


In the Gloaming

by anne_ammons



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst, Crossover, F/M, Forks Washington, Hermione is far more sensible, Inspired by Novel, Introspection, No Bella Swan, POV First Person, POV Hermione Granger, Post-Second War with Voldemort, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28462470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anne_ammons/pseuds/anne_ammons
Summary: After the end of the Second Wizarding War, Hermione is sent to live with her uncle in the town of Forks to rest and recuperate.Yeah... we all know how that's going to go.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Hermione Granger
Comments: 109
Kudos: 209





	1. A Change of Scenery

**Author's Note:**

> You know how they say write the fics you want to read, well here I go...
> 
> Midnight Sun came out. I’d love to read it. I've tried, but I can’t put up with Bella any longer, so I’m changing the narrative, putting in a main character that I’d prefer to see navigate the waters of Forks, and starting from the beginning. 
> 
> Note - there are a few — in my thinking, very few — lines of dialogue from the books that I plan to use here, mainly during key scenes. As this is a derivative work, this is not meant to plagiarize, but to maintain the sense of a character’s statement or the feeling of a moment, nothing more. 
> 
> For the purposes of this fic, the timing of the end of the Second Wizarding War and the beginning of Twilight take place in close proximity. (Just roll with it, friends.)
> 
> My thanks to SmithBarrowman and Talon Willow for giving the beginning a read and letting me know it might be okay if I turned this loose on the world.
> 
> No update schedule at the moment. This is just for shits and giggles. That being said, my muse seems plenty happy churning this out.

_In the gloaming oh, my darling_

_when the lights are dim and low_

_And the quiet shadows falling_

_softly come and softly go_

Excerpt from _In the Gloaming_ by Meta Orred (1874)

* * *

No one really thinks about what happens after a war. What happens after the battle has ended. When what’s left is trying to pick up the pieces of your life. To pick up the bodies of your friends and classmates, and even those you fought against. To try to make sense of so much that defies logic.

Perhaps it’s easier in hindsight, after you have distance, after those who stayed on the sidelines have the opportunity to convince themselves that it was all done for the greater good. Of course, the scars of trauma may linger, but they aren’t so immediate. Over time, you know you’ll learn to work through it or just ignore it until it goes away.

What’s hardest is the in-between time, after you’ve done the work that must be done immediately, but before history has had a chance to decide how it wants to tell the tale. Because after, when you’ve got nothing left that needs to be done, it’s not like your mind suddenly switches off. It’s not like you’re capable of forgetting, anyway, with permanent memories etched into your arm.

Not that you’d want to forget.

I’d put on the same black dress robes too many times. Stood at yet another graveside and whispered my condolences to the grieving family, when there even was a family left to grieve. I had no more tears to cry. The Death Eaters had been brutally efficient in their targeting of Muggle-borns and their families during their reign of terror. It made me sick, but then again, I’d guessed what they were capable of, which is why I had done what I had to protect my own family.

That didn’t mean that my parents were exactly appreciative of my actions. Thankfully, it had been relatively easy to restore their memories once my wand had been returned, but that didn’t mean that they were happy with what I had done or the stories I’d shared when I finally told them the truth of what my years at Hogwarts had been like, and what had happened during the last year.

It didn’t help that I was severely underweight, my body was riddled with scars, and I often woke up at night screaming.

War will do that to you.

After they processed their initial emotions, my parents had put their proverbial feet down. Their parental sensibilities had been horribly offended by what they saw as having been left out of nearly every major decision in my life for the last seven years, save where we spent our summer holidays.

Something needed to change, but it was less clear what that should be.

With who knew how many of Voldemort’s supporters still on the loose, it wasn’t safe for them to return to England just yet. As I knew all too well, wards could always be broken. Nor were my parents ready to cut ties with the community that they had made in Melbourne. Further, they were surprisingly reluctant to have to explain how the previously childless Monica and Wendell Wilkins suddenly had a teenaged daughter.

They loved me. They understood that I had taken the steps I had in order to keep them safe. Yet, it was still an adjustment for us all. Parents were used to gradually ceding control to their children as they grew up, not having it ripped away against their will.

For me, the fact that they were alive and knew who I was meant that I would have agreed to almost anything. After all, wasn’t that the pact I had made with myself just before I had Obliviated them? That if we all made it through, I would be totally honest with them and I would do anything to remain in their good graces, short of giving up magic.

Still, I hadn’t expected what they came up with. I’m not sure if there was any way Trelawney could have seen the path they chose.

I guess that’s the thing about love. Sometimes you choose to go along with something that you’re not thrilled about because in the end, you hope it will be worth it. If the inevitable struggle would further damage or even destroy what was already so fragile, you might choose to acquiesce in the hope that on the other side, things can’t help but be better.

And besides, I was still so very tired.

I don’t know what it was that my parents saw in me that suggested that I might need some time away, but I decided to embrace it, which is how I came to be standing on the streets of Manhattan with my very best friend.

Harry, bless his heart, had insisted on accompanying me on the first leg of my journey. Ron had already said his goodbyes at my birthday party. He was busy helping George get ready to reopen the store. It was good for both of them, and it had been surprisingly easy for the two of us to part. It wasn’t as if either of us had harboured any thought that our momentary lapse in judgement would lead anywhere. Besides, Ginny had mentioned how Lavender Brown had been spending time with Ron’s brother, Bill, while she learned to adjust to her new circumstances, and I already knew that Ron could often be found at Shell Cottage, as well.

I, for one, was happy for them. In the wake of all that had happened, I was glad for anyone who could find someone who was right for them, and the fact that both Harry and Ron each had someone made leaving them just a little easier.

“I still don’t like this.” Harry frowned, looking up at the dome inside the foyer of the MACUSA headquarters.

“There’s nothing to like or not like, Harry. It’s just another part of the adventure.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been with you for all of our other adventures. And the thought of you out here on your own, defenceless…”

“Defenceless? What kind of witch do you think I am, Harry? I saved your butt plenty of times, if you recall.”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just out here, no one will have your back, and I’m the one who’s used to having it.” He sighed. “It makes me feel a little helpless, to be honest.”

I reached over and hugged him tight.

“Well, thankfully, my uncle lives in the most boring place on the planet. You couldn’t get much sleepier than his town.”

I looked up at the tall buildings that could be seen through the glass above us. It was a far cry from the subterranean Ministry of Magic offices. At least the Americans did some things right.

“Why couldn’t he live somewhere more like this?” Harry chuckled. “I’d have a much harder time leaving you, if it was here. Or, at least I’d be more likely to come visit.”

“Forks won’t be so bad. It’s not too far from Seattle, and I hear the West Coast is simply stunning.”

“Well, let’s get this over with.”

Harry put his arm around my shoulders, and we began to climb the steps towards the Registration office. If I was going to be here for an extended amount of time, I had to register myself and my wand with MACUSA.

“Name, please.”

“Hermione Granger.”

The clerk looked up at me, narrowing her eyes, but didn’t comment further. She looked to be somewhere in her fifties, and not particularly excited about her job.

“Wand, please.”

I reluctantly parted with my familiar vine wood wand, given it hadn’t been returned to me that long ago.There was such a difference between it and the other wand I had been forced to use. Its allegiance had never fully been mine, although it had reluctantly yielded to the strength of my magic. An unfortunate parallel between me and my torturer, I thought.

I shuddered, Occluding away the memories that came unbidden with the offhand thought. The skill had become a necessary one for me to learn. I wasn’t very good at it, but just the focus on my breathing and putting overwhelming thoughts away helped me get through the day. Maybe that was why the nights were so hard. My walls began to crumble as I slept until the force of my thoughts running free once more woke me.

I took a deep breath and blinked; once more, I was in control.

“And how long will you be with us?”

“Approximately one year.”

That had been the compromise with my parents. A year would give them time to prepare to return to England and it would give time for the Wizarding world to settle, for the Aurors to do their work to ensure that the country we returned to would be a safe one.

“The purpose of your visit?”

“Schooling.”

The woman across the counter sighed heavily.

“Oh, well, there’s a separate process for Ilvermorny transfers. You’ll need to head to-“

“I won’t be at Ilvermorny.” I shook my head. “I’ll be attending a Muggle high school.”

“Oh…”

“Say, can you tell me who has access to these records?”

Harry jumped in and flashed his Auror badge. I tried to not roll my eyes. Never mind, he was still in training. Never mind, there was an entire Office of International Magical Cooperation who would typically be responsible for interfacing with the Americans. Besides, we already knew the answer.

Kingsley had also not been thrilled with my parents’ decision to send me away where the British Ministry could not keep an eye on me while there were Death Eaters still on the loose.

The clerk looked at Harry strangely. “Unless there’s an incident that can be traced back to Miss Granger, the records are kept in the files.”

“Good. The British Ministry wants to make sure that Miss Granger’s safety isn’t compromised.”

I bit back a smile. While we were a couple of kids who had been through a lot, we were still just a couple of kids. At barely eighteen, Harry was probably younger than any children this woman might have.

“Good thing it’s a big country, then.”

The clerk’s tone made clear that she was not at all impressed by Harry’s attempt at throwing his weight around on this side of the Atlantic.

She pushed a piece of paper towards me, completely ignoring Harry for the moment.

“Your permit is good for one year. If you wish to remain after that time, you’ll need to come back to renew it.” She turned back towards Harry. “And what about you?”

“Oh, I’m not staying. I-“

“Thank you,” I interrupted, picking up my permit and ushering Harry away from the counter before he said anything else. I didn’t expect to have to come here again, but on the off chance I did, I’d prefer to not have ticked off a woman who I might need help from.

o0o

“Any bags to check?”

I shook my head, while Harry nudged my arm with his elbow, clearly amused to be on the inside of this particular joke. Everything I needed had been carefully packed and shrunk. Besides, there hadn’t been that much to bring. I didn’t need my Hogwarts supplies with me. I had removed all the things I had ported around for Harry and Ron for the last year, along with most of the books that I had thought might be necessary. I had transformed my beaded bag into a backpack, for the sake of appearances. While I could claim I packed light, I couldn’t arrive with nothing. Besides, I’d need to get some new things to fill out my wardrobe as my body hopefully filled out again. But that would come in time.

I took my tickets and moved off to the side. Out of everything, I knew saying goodbye to Harry would be the hardest part. We had been together through so much, and in many ways, except a romantic one, he was far more than a friend. 

He grabbed me in his arms and squeezed me tight. It was an embrace I knew well, although now we weren’t trying to hold each other up and convince each other we would make it through. This was a goodbye of sorts. It felt like when Harry hugged me before walking into the Forbidden Forest. Tears began to well in my eyes.

“I wish you didn’t have to do this.”

I tried to laugh, but it came out sounding far more pathetic than I had hoped.

“Me too. But, this is the only thing they asked of me.”

“But to take you away from everyone and everything you know?”

He wasn’t wrong. I had tried to explain, cajole, and convince my parents against this course, but they had been firm.

“I think to them, it’s what they can do to keep me safe.”

Harry fidgeted but refused to let me go just yet.

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“I know, but it’s just for a little while. Besides, if you hurry and get everything cleaned up over there, maybe I can talk them into letting me come home sooner.”

“I’ll do my very best, Hermione.” He gripped me tighter. “God, I’m going to miss you. The time difference alone will be miserable.”

“You’ll have plenty to keep you busy, I’m sure. Write when you can.”

He nodded, both of us knowing full well that Harry was a lousy pen pal.

I started to pull away, anxious to get to my gate before too much longer.

“I’ll miss you, Harry James Potter. Please take care of yourself.”

He stepped back and gave me that crooked grin that I loved so much.

“I’ll be fine. You take care of _yourself_. And if you need me, just say the word.”

I nodded and turned, biting my lip to hold my emotions at bay. These weren’t memories I needed to Occlude. I wanted to remember this moment with Harry, as I turned towards whatever lay ahead of me. There would be new things to learn, and I’d have a chance to fill in some of the gaps in my Muggle education. At least there was that.

o0o

I could have taken a Portkey to Seattle, but the need for a paper trail had meant that I was flying from New York to Seattle and then Seattle to a small town called Port Angeles. My uncle had been insistent on having the record locator and flight information “so he could track everything.” Given I had never been to the town in which he lived, I wouldn’t have been able to Apparate, and besides, there was something comforting in getting on an airplane and travelling across the country to start what would be the most ordinary year I had had in a long time.

As the small plane that had ferried me from Seattle started to descend, I looked out of the window at all the green under me and the water in the distance. England didn’t have this many trees. Not like this. Even our stay in the Forest of Dean was nothing like the thick green carpet that lay below.Unsurprisingly, it was a grey day, and it appeared to be misting; a perpetual fog seemed to hang over the tops of the trees.

At least some things wouldn’t be that different from England, I thought. Still, the Olympic Peninsula was even wetter than England; the temperate rainforest was a marker of the amount of precipitation they received each year. As we landed, I reached into my backpack to pull out my mac, glad to have it to keep me dry against the elements.

I wasn’t surprised to see Uncle Charlie waiting for me as soon as I walked through the door. He said he’d be waiting, and there he was, leaning on a police cruiser that looked like it had seen better days.

“Hermione!” His face lit up as he walked towards me.

“Uncle Charlie!” 

He embraced me in a bear hug that made me feel every bit of my short height before letting me go.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I was surprised to hear from your mom last month. It was like she had dropped off the face of the earth for a little while there.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. What could I say given I was the cause of the fact that she’d disappeared out of her only sibling’s life without even a goodbye? It had taken a moment to concoct a story that would work, and even then it would only hold up if Uncle Charlie didn’t push too hard. And I hoped he wouldn’t. I wasn’t known for my ability to lie. Yet, the Statute of Secrecy meant that the things that Uncle Charlie didn’t know about me or other extraordinary things in the world were for his own good, and I was barred from telling him, not that he would want to know, anyway. It was a kindness that Muggles didn’t know the true nature of the world around them. Plus, there were plenty of non-magical troubles, too.

The truth was, I was at least a little excited about what lay ahead, not having to worry about dark wizards and keeping Harry alive for another year. It was time for a break. I knew I still had work to do on myself to heal from everything that had happened over the last year, and a nice, quiet, normal place like Forks was probably the best spot for me to do that work.

Uncle Charlie looked around me, eyeing my backpack.

“Is that all you’ve got with you?”

“I packed light. I figure it would be easier to get things here than carry it all with me. Besides, I’ve been moving around a bit.”

“Yeah, Helen mentioned that.”

My mother had told him I’d been staying with friends while they were out of the country, spending time with an organisation that did dental charity work in remote areas, but that I was looking to do a study abroad year, and she hoped he might be interested in hosting me.

I was glad that the two of them had been able to reconnect so seamlessly. My mum and her brother didn’t talk often, but it wasn’t as if they weren’t a part of each other’s lives. It had taken quite a bit of dancing around to explain nearly a year of being out of touch, and my mum had said that Uncle Charlie was still a little sore about it. I bore the burden of that, too. Maybe that was a part of the reason I eventually had been willing to come to Forks, to smooth the waters between them as best I could.

I noticed Uncle Charlie eyeing me cautiously. “She also said you hadn’t been sleeping well. We’ll go over the house rules on the drive, but I want to start by saying that you can come to me with anything, Hermione. If something is bothering you, or is on your mind, come talk to me, even if you think you can’t talk to your parents about it.”

Oh great. My uncle thought I was _troubled_. I certainly couldn’t bring to him any of the monsters that rattled around in my head. Not that he would believe the stories, anyway. Uncle Charlie was a rather practical man.

I plastered on a smile. “I understand. Thanks for letting me stay with you. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the American school system is like.”

It was best to keep to the story for now. If it unravelled later, so be it, but at least I would try to get settled in before that happened.

“Well, if you wanted that, I’m not sure if Forks was your best bet. You might have been better off in Phoenix with your cousin. While it suits me just fine, there’s not much up here.”

My cousin, Bella. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d seen each other. It had been well before I got my Hogwarts letter. Charlie and her mother had divorced a long time ago, and from what my mum said, Bella rarely made the trek up to visit with her father.

“Actually, that’s why I think it’s perfect.” I reassured him. “I’m looking to focus on my studies. I don’t really need the distractions.”

“Well then, you and I are going to get along just fine, Hermione.”

During the drive, he went over the house rules, like he’d said, explaining that by and large, the kids in Forks were a good bunch, but he thought it best for us to start out on the right foot.

No drugs, no smoking, and he didn’t care what the drinking age was at home, but over here, it was twenty-one, and I needed to mind that because the Police Chief’s niece couldn’t be caught underaged drinking. It would set a bad tone.

I readily agreed. None of that would be a hardship. Although, I didn’t mention the handful of vials of Calming Draught and Dreamless Sleep that I had tucked away for nights when things got too bad. It was for both of our benefits that I had those. While Dreamless Sleep could be addictive, I rarely used it, but it was good to have on hand on the worst nights.

“Oh… And I got you something to drive, cause you’ll need that around here. You’ve got your license, right?”

I nodded hesitantly. Sure, I had applied for a provisional license when I became eligible and I’d driven with my parents when I was home for the summer… before, but I had never bothered to get my full license. There just hadn’t been time for that, given everything that had been going on.

He must have read my reticence as concern over having to drive on a different side of the road or something similar.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take you out and make sure you’ve got the hang of it before I turn you loose. Given how long your parents have been away, I figure you might be out of practice. But, you don’t need to worry. I got you the perfect vehicle for that.”

It was a kind offer. One that I hadn’t realised I needed. Had I been so silly to think that I’d be able to walk or Apparate everywhere? Clearly there’d be no public transportation, at least like there was in London. As we drove along, I hoped it wasn’t an older, more banged up version of a police cruiser, but as the saying went, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

It turns out; I needn’t have worried.

We pulled into the driveway; and as he parked the cruiser, he turned and looked at me expectantly before looking out of the window past me.

“Well?”

Well, what? It took me a moment to realise what he was implying.

“Oh, that? That’s for me?”

I turned to look at the behemoth parked next to us with both trepidation and appreciation. It was faded red and rather old, but it had quite a bit of charm to it, like you’d see in an old movie or something.

I hurried out of the car so I could take a closer look, running my hands over the rounded fenders and peering through the window.

“It’s fantastic! What do you call these?”

Uncle Charlie chuckled and instantly relaxed. He must have been worried about what I would make of it. If he only knew how little I knew or cared about cars. As long as it had four wheels and moved, it would work just fine for me. Besides, I still wasn’t completely convinced I would need it. He had said it wasn’t too far of a walk to get to school, even if I might look like a show poodle by the time I arrived, given the ever-present moisture in the air.

“I’m so glad you like it, Hermione. It’s a pickup truck, albeit an old one. It used to belong to a good friend of mine, but he’s not using it anymore, so he gave me a good deal.”

“I can pay you back for it.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I thought about it. I didn’t want to offend him. This was definitely more than he needed to do for me.

“Nah, no need. I’m just glad you’re here. It’ll be good to have family around for a while.”

I didn’t press the point, choosing to accept what he said at face value, and not wanting him to feel self-conscious about the gift. I didn’t know how much small-town police chiefs made, but I was sure it was a lot less than dentists, even two who had been on a bit of a “holiday” for the last year.

With a bit of a spring in his step, he bounded up the front stairs and removed a key from the side of the front door before unlocking it and replacing it in the most obvious of hiding places. Clearly, Forks hadn’t been subjected to Moody’s lessons of constant vigilance.

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” he said as he waved me into the house.

He showed me upstairs to a small bedroom that faced the front yard.

“This is Bella’s room when she comes, but…”

His voice trailed off, but I knew what he meant. But she rarely came.

“Thanks, Uncle Charlie. Really. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

He nodded and left me to get settled.

The room had a bed, a small desk, and a rocking chair. The walls were light blue and tapered towards the centre of the room, following the roofline.

The house only had one bathroom, but something told me that my uncle would be pretty easy as roommates went. There was no way he’d spend as much time primping in the mirror as Lavender and Parvati had.

I took a deep breath. That was before, before Fenrir Greyback had mauled Lavender’s throat. Thankfully Percy had blasted the savage off of her before he could entirely rip it open. Even still, she had nearly bled out. Percy’s quick thinking had ensured she made it to the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey was able to stabilise her and send her to St. Mungo’s with an emergency Portkey.

As much of an annoyance as Lavender had been during my years at Hogwarts, I was glad she was alive, even though her scars meant that she may never primp in front of a mirror in the same way again. I took a breath and packed the memory of Lavender away, and turned my attention back to the task at hand.

It only took me a few moments to set up my room. I put my clothes away in the closet, thinking I could use several more pairs of jeans and leggings. That was one good thing about not returning to Hogwarts this year; the high school in Forks didn’t have uniforms.

I placed the few books I’d brought with me on my desk. I’d have to see about fitting a bookcase in here, if I ever wanted to have room to do homework at the desk. I didn’t expect Uncle Charlie to go nosing through my things, but still I charmed Hogwarts: A History to look like an innocuous Muggle text - Shakespeare seemed like a good choice. Harry and Ron had both laughed at me for bringing it with me, but some things were far too sentimental to leave behind, even as I embarked on my Muggle adventure, as Ron had taken to calling it.

I pulled out a stilled picture of the three of us at the end of our third year and set it on the desk as well. If I wanted, I could remove the charm on it and watch us toss our heads back and laugh. It all seemed so simple then, if one could call trolls and basilisks simple. Easier than dark wizards, my mind answered, raring to race down a trail I wasn’t interested in.

I sat at the desk chair for a moment and closed my eyes, finding the box in my mind that had tipped open and hastily stuffed its contents back inside before I closed it and tied it shut for good measure. Not today. Not tonight. I was already feeling the effects of the time change, and tomorrow, I wanted to be ready for my first day of school.

“Hermione! You hungry?”

I took a deep breath and stood, looking around what would be my room for the time I was here before heading downstairs. It wasn’t large, but there were no roommates to deal with, nor was it a tent. Granted, it didn’t come with Molly Weasley’s cooking, but my uncle wasn’t starving either.

All in all, I considered it a win.


	2. Introductions

Forks High School had less than four hundred students, although unlike Hogwarts, it only housed four grades. Here in the US, the younger students had their own school. The size of my class in Forks, therefore, was a little bigger than it had been at Hogwarts, give or take; definitely bigger than it would have been this year, as Hogwarts had not yet been ready to reopen, since repairs were ongoing. Plus, some of our ranks would never grace its halls again, having become casualties of the war.

It had been hard to leave while the work was ongoing. Everything felt unfinished. We were rebuilding together, but I wouldn’t be able to see it through.But the school year had already started in the States, so it made little sense to delay my departure after all the necessary arrangements had been sorted. I would have enough catching up to do as it was.

It would be different to not have the younger students around. I thought about the times that I had helped someone find their way or helped with a project and was a little sad to not have the chance for those interactions. As far as I knew, there were neither Prefects nor Houses in my new school. While the rigid divisions hadn’t always been positive, they provided some support, since you could almost always count on your housemates looking out for you. Now, however, I would be on my own. I wondered if my fellow students would give me a hand or help me find my way. It was unsettling to think I should already have it all figured out so quickly, when nothing was further from the truth.

As I got ready for the day, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a warm jumper. I plaited my hair in an effort to keep the humidity from it, for today at least. My curls had a mind of their own. I knew it would be a losing battle to keep them contained in the constant drizzle, but wanted to at least try.

Charlie was happy to drop me, although I couldn’t help but notice how students’ heads turned as I stepped out of the police cruiser. Right. That couldn’t be a normal thing. I’d have to get my driving privileges sorted out as soon as possible if I wanted to fit in.

I made my way to the front office. A bell chimed as I opened the door, and I was instantly transported to Diagon Alley, to the apothecary where a similar chime echoed in my mind. The last I had seen, it was still boarded up, its owner, missing. Another artifact of war.

“Hurry up, come on in. Don’t let all the heat out!”

I shook my head to clear it and shut the door as requested. It was a crowded space, with plants and papers and an old copy machine on the far side of the counter, like what my parents had had in their office. Amongst all the clutter sat the woman who had spoken. On my side of the counter, I could see several folding chairs and several faded posters extolling students to “Eat Five a Day” and “Make an Effort, Not an Excuse.”

At least the messages seemed more cheerful than Umbridge’s numbered decrees.

The woman spoke again, drawing my attention back to her.

“You must be Chief Swan’s niece, Hermy… How do you say your name, dear?”

“Hello. Yes, I’m Hermione Granger.”

“Ooh, and such a lovely accent, too. You don’t get to hear that around here.”

I smiled. If my accent was the only thing that stood out about me, I would be thankful. As excited as I was about engaging in a Muggle curriculum, I still had some concerns. The last time I had been at a Muggle school had been before I learned I was a witch, before I learned to control my magic. Primary school had not been the easiest of times for me. Kids were rather apprehensive when weird things kept happening around you, and by the end, it had been easier to keep to myself than to make friends.

In some ways, Hogwarts had started the same way. It had been easier to throw myself into my studies. I had so much to catch up on, since I hadn’t been raised around magic. And while others could let you down, books tended to not do that. But then there had been Harry and Ron, and then Ginny, Neville, Luna and the other members of my house as well as the D.A.

I wouldn’t trade those relationships for anything, even if it felt like I was putting them on pause for the moment. The people I had fought with had had my back — and I theirs — at the hardest times in my life to this point. Yet, all of us had work to do to put our heads and lives back together, and mine was going to happen over here.

“I’ve got your schedule right here, dear.” The school secretary slid a paper across the desk. “And here’s a map of the school to help you get around.”

I nodded my thanks and looked at two to figure out where my first class was.

“Oh! And here’s a slip you’ll need to have each of your teachers sign today. Just drop it off with me before you head home.”

“Thank you.” I waved and headed out.

It was almost time for the day to begin. Cars were still pulling up in the lot and students were milling about before heading into the buildings. It was so odd to see so many cars. No one drove themselves to school where I had grown up. Whereas over here, it seemed like everyone had a car just to get around.

My first class of the day was English. I found the room without too much trouble and stepped inside, heading to meet the teacher so he could sign the slip I’d been given.

“Hermione Granger. Might your mother be Helen?”

He’d said my name perfectly. Out of all the professors here, I figured the English professor might know its origins in Greek mythology. I nodded to let him know he was correct.

He handed me a reading list and pointed me towards an empty desk at the back of the classroom. I scanned the list. It was mostly classics, things I had read before. Definitely nothing I couldn’t handle. I wondered if it might be presumptuous to ask for a supplemental list this early, only to temper my reaction. It could wait. I needed to get settled and see how my other classes would go. The rest would not be so straightforward.

At the end of class, I checked my schedule to see what was next. American Government. As a Brit, I thought this one might be entertaining — although completely out of my wheelhouse.

“You the new girl, aren’t you?”

One of the other students had walked back and propped himself on the desk next to where I was sitting. He was a thin boy with dark hair and a bright gleaming smile, and clearly the self-proclaimed welcome committee.

He hadn’t even tried to pronounce my name, even though the teacher had introduced me to the class.

“Well, given you haven’t seen me before…”

I wasn’t trying to be snippy, not entirely.

In any event, he seemed unfazed.

“I’m Eric.”

He stuck his hand out, and I had no choice but to shake it. I had to remember that Americans preferred to use given names, even when they didn’t know you. It seemed like an odd presumption of familiarity, but who was I to judge?

“Where are you headed next?”

“Government.”

He nodded. “I’m headed that way. I’d be happy to show you the way.”

I donned my jacket and slipped my bag over my shoulder.

“Sounds like you’re British?”

I groaned internally. This was the inevitable small talk that I would have to make all day, perhaps all week. With any hope, it would die out rather quickly, as soon as the next exciting thing happened, assuming there were other exciting things that happened in Forks. I grimaced, realising I might wait awhile before there was something new to talk about.

I smiled and answered in a voice that I hoped was more friendly than condescending. I did want to start off on the right foot with my classmates.

“Yes, I am.”

“Cool.” Eric grinned at me, oblivious to my machinations. He led me back outside, holding the door open for me. The drizzle had turned into a light rain and we both reflexively stopped to pull our hoods up.

“Does it rain as much over there?”

“All the time,” I replied. “I’m quite used to wet weather.”

I patted my jacket to show that my mac would keep me plenty dry.

“That’s a cool jacket.”

“Thanks. The Queen has one just like it.” I joked, biting back a grin, as his face lit up.

If there was one thing that Americans seemed to like more than random Brits, it was the Royal Family. He was distracted long enough for me to slip into my next class, although given how small the school was, I was sure I’d see him again soon enough.

By lunch, I had begun to recognise a few of the same people in my morning classes. It looked like Math would be my most challenging class, at least so far, given Arithmancy wasn’t quite the same. I would need to see what resources I could find to help me catch up, not being one to admit defeat over something I knew was conquerable — and knowledge always was.

Choosing French as the required foreign language had been a mistake. My accent and grasp on grammar seemed to be more on point than the teacher’s. I wondered what my other options would be. Maybe Spanish might be a better fit? I heard Ron’s voice in my head. _You know, Hermione, it’s okay if you have a class where you don’t have to work so hard._ He wasn’t wrong. I’d keep it in mind once I had been through the rest of the day.

Still, I enjoyed staying busy, and I didn’t really need an excuse to take on a challenge. The more my mind was busy, the less time I had to think about other things. If I could exhaust myself, physically or mentally, then I could fall into bed and keep the nightmares at bay. But I didn’t want to jeopardise my grades. One of the benefits of doing this “exchange” year was that I’d have some semblance of upper-level coursework to use for Uni entrance, if that was the route I chose.

At lunch time, I wandered towards the cafeteria, having seen a sign for it as I was walking between classes earlier. As I reached the end of the line, I looked around to decide where to sit in the absence of house tables. I saw Eric waving at me, pointing to an empty seat next to him. It was not in an ideal location, sitting in the centre of the room. Further, the seat he had left open for me faced away from the doors. From a position of situational awareness, you couldn’t get much worse. I took a deep breath, and forced my rising anxiety back down. This was only high school. I didn’t need to think about escape plans and tactical advantages anymore. Nevertheless, I knew I’d still struggle to not turn and look over my shoulder at every noise I heard.

I walked towards the table and joined Eric and his friends, thankful for the olive branch on my first day.

“Hey everyone, this is…” He paused, uncertain of how to say my name again, and the tips of his ears turned pink.

“Hermione,” I finished for him. With a name like mine, one couldn’t be too caught up in how people addressed you before they had a chance to learn. It wasn’t hard, though. Except for Viktor, whose challenge was more of an issue of linguistics, once I pronounced it, they got it right.

Besides, they had only one new name to learn, whereas I would need to keep everyone else’s straight; not that I could manage that all at once. While Eric was pointing out all the names around the table, I had already missed several.

After the introductions, I set to eating. My stomach had reminded me earlier that it was already time for supper, not at all used to the change in time zones. The chatter at the table around me seemed to continue on as if I wasn’t there, and I was glad for the momentary reprieve.

“You hanging in there?”

The dark-haired girl on my other side smiled at me warmly, but she kept her voice purposefully low, as if she was trying to engage me without drawing the rest of the table into our conversation.

I nodded.

“You don’t have to pretend. New places can be rather overwhelming at first.”

She was right. Still, it was much easier to pretend.

“I’m Angela,” she said. It was a thoughtful act, given I hadn't remembered from the earlier introduction and it would have been just as easy for her to not remind me. “If you need anything, I’d be happy to help.”

It seemed as sincere an offer as any.

As I turned back to eating, I felt an odd tickle in my head.

“Ow!”” I said, rubbing my forehead.

“You okay?” Angela asked in concern.

I nodded, quickly scanning the table to see who might be looking at me. No one was. I then expanded my search of the room, my food forgotten for the moment, as I began to strengthen the walls in my mind, defaulting to the lessons I’d been taught. I began reinforcing my boxes, locking them behind doors, and building secure rooms around them.

The feeling dissipated, and just as quickly I dismissed what I had felt as a product of being tired and overly taxed from taking everything in. There were no wizards or witches hiding out in the cafeteria at Forks. This wasn’t a place that I needed to have fortified walls. While that tickle had almost felt like Legilimency, there was no way it could have been. I had to remember that things were different now and act accordingly.

To satisfy my own paranoia, I continued my sweep of the room to see if I saw anything out of the ordinary. Everywhere I looked, there were normal teenagers laughing and joking.

These faces hadn’t seen battle. They hadn’t been hunted down in the middle of the forest as they ran for their lives. They hadn’t seen their classmates mauled by a werewolf or struck down by an _Avada Kedavra_ that didn’t care that the person being hit hadn’t had a chance to live or love yet.

I felt my breath quickening and closed my eyes for a moment to centre myself.

It was when I opened my eyes again that I saw them, five people sitting alone at a table at the far side of the room. I could see trays on the table, but none of them seemed to be eating. There were three boys and two girls sitting across from each other. They looked far more put-together than anyone else in the cafeteria. The blonde woman almost reminded me of Fleur, with her Veela heritage. There was another blond, with his back to me, and next to him sat a small slip of a girl with short black hair.

One of the boys had bronze-coloured hair that reminded me of Harry’s in its untidiness, although this boy’s looked far more purposefully done, and I knew Harry’s was anything but. He suddenly looked up at me, holding my gaze for a moment before he looked away. I braced my walls, waiting to see if the familiar tickle would come, but it didn’t. His face was angular. He reminded me a bit of Cedric Diggory, with the same strong jawline and rugged looks. I rubbed my hand over my heart absentmindedly before turning to see Angela looking at me, worry written on her face.

“Who are they?”

She followed my gaze to the table in the corner of the room.

“Oh, those are the Cullens.” She explained. “There’s Edward, Alice and Emmett Cullen and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They’re all part of the same family. All taken in by Dr Cullen and his wife.” 

“I see.”

Angela continued, “Edward and Alice are in our class, while Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper are all seniors. They’ll be finishing this year. It’s kind of a neat story, Dr Cullen and his wife could not have children, so they started their own family by giving each of those kids a chance.”

“So are they related?”

“Only Rosalie and Jasper. They’re twins.”

I looked back at them, trying to see if I could see a resemblance, but they were too far away. Besides, it was none of my business, but I could be glad they had found a family. There were too many orphans in Wizarding Britain waiting for families, and had I not acted in the manner I had to protect my parents, I might have been one of them.

I watched for a moment longer before the group got up and walked out of the cafeteria, then turned my attention back to my lunch, no longer concerned about someone prodding at my mind. That made little sense. Besides, whatever I had felt had only lasted a moment.

I liked Angela. From my first impression, she seemed thoughtful. I sensed she might become a friend, far more so than the others at the table, each who seemed to be doing their best to exhibit their strongest Gryffindor traits. It was different with my classmates from Hogwarts. I had had many years to get used to Seamus’s brashness, Dean’s wry humour, even Lavender and Parvati’s tendency to gossip at the drop of a hat. But here, all at once, around a small table, it seemed a bit much. All of these people knew each other. Most of them had probably grown up together, and here I was, the odd person out.

Angela’s voice cut through my reverie again.

“What do you have next, Biology?

I nodded.

“Me, too. Come on, I’ll show you where it is.”

She chatted with me as we walked between the buildings. It turned out that Angela had younger twin brothers she adored. She carried the conversation, so I could walk in silence, every now and then nodding to show I was still listening. I appreciated the opportunity to regroup and sort my thoughts before my next class.

Of all the sciences offered,I had been excited to take Biology. It was so unlike anything offered at Hogwarts. I had a basic idea about how genetics worked, but I was thrilled to have a chance to dig deeper, particularly given my own experience within the magical world and the word scrawled on my arm.

To my thinking, many parts of Wizarding society were still rather backwards compared to the Muggle world. They didn’t use computers or even ink pens. If only one could only find a way to marry the best parts of the two — to bring the spirit of inquiry and discovery into the magical world, it might be like a renaissance of sorts.

I could see it because I straddled the two worlds. However, at my age, no one would take me seriously, even with an Order of Merlin, First Class, behind my name. Plus, I was a little rusty on some aspects, given I hadn’t spent an extended amount of time in the Muggle world since before I turned twelve. Yet another reason to be thankful that my parents had imposed this condition. This time would provide me with an opportunity to learn in many ways.

As we arrived at the classroom, Angela slipped inside and took her seat at one of the crowded lab tables. The teacher signed my slip and pointed me to a lab table with an open seat.

The bronzed-haired boy from the cafeteria was sitting there. Edward Cullen, Angela had said.

I walked down the aisle towards the open seat and had to pass by my table mate to get to it. As I brushed by him, he suddenly looked up. His eyes were black and his look was furious. It was such a strange reaction; I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I hadn’t done or said anything to him, and clearly he knew this was the only open seat in the class. I dropped my bag and sat as the teacher called the class to order.

I pulled out my notebook, doing my best to ignore the strange reaction of the boy next to me. Still, my mind drifted, as the teacher made several announcements about a lesson they’d already had. Before, in the cafeteria, his face had seemed open and curious when I caught his eye, but here, his face was contorted in a way that suggested nothing good.

When class started in earnest, I tuned out everything but the teacher’s voice. Given the semester had already started, I was having to play catch up on the material covered in each class, and on several of the subjects as a whole. It wouldn’t be easy, but I felt up for the challenge.

At one point, I saw Edward move out of the corner of my eye. His entire body had shifted away from me and he sat rather rigidly at the edge of his seat. How odd. Was he always like this? We hadn’t even met yet, so it couldn’t be anything I’d done.

I shook my head, refocusing on the lecture. I’d have to see if Angela might lend me her notes for this, among other classes. Given she had been in three of my classes already, all Honours level, she might be a good person to get notes from; plus, she’d already offered to help.

As soon as the bell rang, my table partner shot out of his seat and rushed towards the door faster than I thought possible.

_Nice manners_ , I thought, as I looked at his retreating form. It would be a rather long semester if I had to sit through that every day.

“So, you’re Hermione.”

A big blond stood in front of me, blocking my view of the door.

He reached his hand out as I stood.

“I’m Mike.”

I vaguely remembered that from the introductions around the lunch table.

“Where are you headed next?”

“I think I’ve got PE.”

I definitely had PE, but it was the class I was least looking forward to, but unfortunately, it was a requirement and there had been no way for me to explain that athletics were not really an interest of mine.

“Gym?” he queried. “I’m headed there, too.”

His face broke into a grin and shortened his stride so I wouldn’t have to work so hard to catch up.

“What was that with Cullen? I’ve never seen him like that before.”

So I wasn’t the only one who thought his behaviour had been off.

I shrugged. “I have no idea. I figured he wasn’t a fan of Biology.”

Mike chuckled. “You’re funny, Hermione. Anyway, I wouldn’t be bothered by it. He’s a bit of an odd duck. Keeps to himself most of the time; he and his family stick together. Too bad I already had a partner, I would have been happy to sit with you.”

He flashed me a smile that suggested that his help might extend to other areas as well, if I were amenable, and I ducked into the girls’ locker room before he could say anything that led me to think that he was being anything other than friendly and welcoming.

It turned out that you had to wear a uniform for PE, a god awful get up designed to put your worst attributes on display. Better yet, it consisted of shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt, which meant I’d have nowhere to store my wand, and unless I glamoured my arm, my most obvious scar would be on full display.

The coach found me one but said I didn’t have to change for class today. They were learning to play volleyball, which I had never played or seen, outside of watching the Olympics with my parents.

At least it was on the ground, I thought. I could muddle through any sport that didn’t involve broomsticks or flying.

At the end of the day, I headed back to the front office to hand in my signed form. All in all, today had been a success. I had several new textbooks to get lost in and plenty to keep me occupied for hours.

The rain had finally stopped, but a breeze had picked up. I let my hood down; my curls were already escaping from the plait down my back, but I couldn’t be bothered, knowing it was the end of the day.

As I entered the office, there was already someone ahead of me; Edward Cullen stood at the desk. I waited near the door so as not to interrupt. It sounded like he was trying to charm the woman behind the desk to move him from sixth period Biology to any other period.

“I’m sorry, Edward. We don’t have room in another class. If it’s a problem, I can talk to the teacher, but that’s your only option, unless you want to wait and take it next year, but then you’ll be one credit short for your sciences.”

Another student entered the office to drop something off at the desk, and for a moment a gust of wind filled the small room.

I watched as Edward suddenly froze, and his head turned towards me. He looked as tense as he had during class.

He turned his head back toward the secretary, his voice lowered. “No worries. I’m sorry to have asked. Good day.”

He turned and left the office without saying anything else. At least it was now my turn. I handed the woman the completed slip.

“Had a good day?”

I nodded. No three-headed dogs or giant spiders. All things considered, my first full day in Forks had gone just fine.


	3. Adjusting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Q: Will this track Twilight exactly, just replacing Hermione with Bella?
> 
> A: Yes and no. This definitely isn't a "name replace," but I think part of the fun here is seeing how the different plot points in Twilight play out with a different variable as part of the equation. However, there are also a few elements that Hermione introduces to the plot because of who she is. That being said, she's still getting settled. 
> 
> Stay tuned. And thanks for reading.

Day two was better than day one. While the clouds still filled the sky, the rain held, so I could count on a little more cooperation from my curls — but I still braided them to keep them out of the way. No sense in tempting fate.

Mike seemed to think that it was his job to walk me from class to class, at least the ones we had in common. While Eric didn’t seem thrilled by that, I was more concerned by the reaction of one of the girls who sat at our lunch table again toda.Jessica and I shared a few classes. She was a petite girl with dark brown hair. While we had interacted only a bit, it was quite clear that Jessica considered Mike to be unavailable.

That was fine with me, I wasn’t really a fan of golden retrievers. Nor was I interested in starting out on the wrong foot. There was a reason new people stood out for their missteps, and I much preferred to blend in, or to be known for my intelligence, rather than who I was paired with. Being part of the Golden Trio was more an annoyance than anything, but I knew why we had gained the moniker. In the aftermath of what we had been through, everyone needed hope. I was just glad to share a small fraction of the load for Harry, who had been through more than enough.

At least most of our story was still our own.

At lunch, I noticed there were only four members of the Cullen family in attendance, as my lab partner appeared to be missing from their table. I didn’t know whether he was skipping lunch or if he was absent altogether. In either case, I hoped he was getting over whatever it was that had bothered him yesterday.

Angela was dear. Without me even asking, she had made copies of her notes and handed them to me. I really appreciated the gesture, and from what I could tell, her notes were the right ones to get, even though the turn about felt a little odd, after all, I had been the source for notes for so long.

“Let me know if you want to go over anything,” she said, with a tone that made clear it wasn’t just an offhand suggestion.

I would definitely take her up on it.

As soon as I rose from the table to head to Biology, Mike also jumped up. I instinctively turned towards Angela and she must have sensed my panic. Without a word, she quickly collected her things so the three of us ended up walking to class together.

“Hermione, have you made it to the beach yet?” Mike asked as well moved between buildings.

I shook my head. Given I had only been here a few days, I hadn’t even thought about the beach, let alone gone to see it due to the gloomy weather.

“Well, a group of us are putting together a beach trip, down on the Quileute reservation. You should come with us.”

I looked to Angela to see her nodding as well. A group trip sounded like a good idea, and if she was going, then at least I’d have someone to talk to. When I said that I was interested, Mike grinned widely. I was going to have to take a more overt step to let him know I wasn’t interested and find a way to let him down easily.

I had the lab table to myself in Biology. My partner was indeed absent, which was all the better for concentrating on the lesson and taking notes.

Volleyball was as torturous as I thought it might be. Since I couldn’t avoid the uniform, I glamoured my arm, knowing that particular souvenir from Bellatrix would only lead to questions I couldn’t answer. At least it seemed to finally be healing. I thought it looked less angry and red than it had at home. I wasn’t one for tattoos, but I might need to consider one, so I could wear short sleeves again and not have to worry about maintaining a glamour or avoiding a misplaced Finite. Someday.

In any event, I managed to stay out of the way of those who knew what they were doing and even connected with the ball once or twice when it headed directly towards me.

“Nice one, Hermione!” I heard Mike call from behind me. It was a little disconcerting to have everyone call me by my first name. It differed from home where Granger was what I was used to hearing. The only people who called me Hermione were the people who I knew best, but that wasn’t the style over here. Even some of the teachers went by their given names, instead of their surnames. I chuckled to myself, thinking what might have happened if someone had deigned to address our former potions master as Severus, rest his cantankerous, tortured soul.

It was a different place and a different custom, though, so I would adjust.

The rain was still holding, so I could look forward to staying dry on the walk home. Uncle Charlie had promised he’d take me out to drive this weekend, which would give me another option, but I didn’t mind the walk. I wondered what we might be having for dinner. Charlie’s fridge was rather bare, an indication of his bachelor status. While I was no Molly Weasley, I could follow a recipe.

The two of us would need to come up with a solution for us to share the meal prep and cleanup duties. He’d been rather amenable so far, and I figured this would be no different. It was nice to share space with someone who was more logical than emotional. My mum was the same way, and I, too, had inherited that Swan trait.

There were those that complained or teased me for being unfeeling. That wasn’t it at all. I cared plenty, but I also cared enough to think through where a set of decisions might lead. As much as Harry complained, I had been a good balance for him, and I hoped whoever he would end up partnered with on the Auror Squad would be the same. It was far too easy for him to jump into action without thinking about the consequences, which meant sometimes he ended with results he didn’t want. The image of Sirius floating through the Veil at the Department of Mysteries came to mind, and I pushed it away, not wanting to revisit the sound of Harry’s anguished cry or the victorious cackle that would rattle other, even less pleasant boxes in my head.

As I passed by the parking lot, I paid attention to all the different cars, the familiar and less familiar shapes and sizes. By and large, Americans seemed to prefer bigger vehicles. Pickup trucks, all of which appeared to be newer than mine, were a common sight, along with a few minivans, but there were also plenty of older, small sedans. My truck might be a bit of an antique, but it would fit in just fine in the parking lot, if I ever got around to driving it.

Among all the other cars, only one stuck out as being new and shiny. If it was a hand-me-down, someone had been rather lucky. Two of the Cullens walked up to it, waiting for their siblings. That made sense, Angela had said that their father was a doctor. I put my head down and kept walking. The sooner I got home, the sooner I could spend more time working through the rudimentary algebra I would need, if I was ever going to make it through trigonometry.

At some point, I needed to let my parents know that I had arrived and was settled. Granted, they had Uncle Charlie’s phone number, but between the time change and long distance charges, I could say far more in a letter than I probably would over the phone. Plus, they wanted to know how I was doing, and I wanted to be as open as I could, given the circumstances. If what we needed to do was rebuild trust, I would do my best to honour their request.

Keeping in touch with Harry would be a little more challenging. First, any owls travelling across the Atlantic would reach New York. There, domestic owls were used to redirect international mail, which was understandable given the distances involved. Before leaving home, I had been able to arrange for an owl forwarding route, so any letters written to me would first arrive at the Seattle Owl Post office, where they would then be transferred again to the American No-Maj postal service for the final leg of their journey. As a result, it would take anything nearly a week to reach me. As an alternative, Harry could use Muggle means and find a way to make a phone call or send an email. Knowing him, however, that would be highly unlikely.

As convoluted as the avenues for communication were, I didn’t expect to get much mail, unless Ginny took pity on me and sent scraps of news, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t write. However, until I could make it to Seattle, I would have to hold on to any outgoing mail.

It was all so very different. My time in Forks would end up being a break from much of what I was used to. Other than being away from my friends, the most disconcerting piece was that there was no Daily Prophet to follow what was happening. There was so much going on still, as the Ministry sorted itself out, as the Wizengamot progressed with the ongoing trials, and everyone teetered between returning to a normal life and recognising that it would be awhile before anything really felt normal again.

As much as I didn’t care for Rita Skeeter, I figured I could count on her to report enough that I could read between the lines to determine how things were really going, if only I could get my hands on a copy. Instead, I’d have to wait for the news to filter to me. While I had only been gone for a few days, already I was starting to miss the people and places that were familiar to me. That wasn’t a surprise, though. I had expected to experience some level of homesickness. Australia had been different — there, reuniting with my parents had been my focus, and once things were sorted, I had intended to return to England. But here in Forks, so much of what lay ahead were things that were unfamiliar to me.

Instead of the Scottish Highlands, I was in the middle of a rainforest. Instead of the magical world that I had become accustomed to, I was now learning American muggle customs and trying to fit in as a normal teenager, when my experience to date had been anything but. At least I had the excuse of being from Britain as a reason for not being up on popular culture.

It took time. I needed to be patient. I couldn’t learn it all at once, and I couldn’t figure it out all at once. After penning a note to my parents letting them know how my first two days had gone, I pulled out the Maths — no, Math — textbook. It was time for more Algebra.

I headed downstairs to greet Uncle Charlie as he came home. For a moment, he seemed startled to hear the noise on the stairs.

He looked up. “Oh, hey, Hermione.”

“Forgot I was here already?” I chided.

He laughed and pointed to the bag on the table as he toed off his work boots. “Lucky for you, not entirely.”

Dinner. Yay.

“About that…” I ventured, laying out my idea to share the kitchen duty.

Charlie seemed pleased that I wasn’t expecting him to feed me every night. Based on the limited options in the fridge, I figured that he didn’t cook much. Neither did I, but while Ron might have disagreed, with a supermarket and kitchen, I could manage simple things, given I wasn’t trying to feed three people on what we could scavenge in the woods.

We sat down to eat, and my uncle wasted no time in beginning his interrogation.

“So, how was it? Who’ve you met?”

I knew he wasn’t much of a talker, but I figured my mother had impressed upon him her concern that I fit in, given the timing and circumstances of my arrival.

And the fact that she was worried because of _everything else_ that had caused me to come to be here in this kitchen, although Uncle Charlie wasn’t privy to those details.

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m still getting my bearings, but everyone has been friendly so far, although I’ve mostly interacted with people in my class. I’ve met Eric and Mike; I don’t know their last names yet.”

“Hmm… probably Eric Yorkie and Mike Newton — tall blond kid?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Good kid — his parents own the sporting goods store.” Charlie looked at me with an expression that seemed to carry equal parts amusement and suspicion. “Do I need to be concerned about the fact that the first two people you named are both boys?”

“Well, they seem to be the ones who have appointed themselves my honour guard.” I chuckled. “I’ve met plenty of others. In fact, one of my classmates shared all of _her_ notes with me, to make sure I could catch up faster.”

He nodded in approval.

“Besides, my two best friends at home are both boys.”

“Is that so? Two of them?”

He looked skeptical, as if it was unlikely that teenaged boys and girls could be friends without there being more to it.

“Absolutely.” I smiled, thinking of Harry and Ron. “We were at school together. I’ve known them since right before I turned twelve.”

“You met them at that boarding school you went to.”

It was a statement, rather than a question. I remembered that Uncle Charlie hadn’t understood it when my mother had explained that I would be heading off to school. Granted, she couldn’t share with him the specifics of why I was going, but I knew it had taken him some time to wrap his head around why my parents would want to do that.

It was far more common in England for children to attend boarding school than it was in the US. Despite that, I knew he had had words with my mother about shipping me off, about how family needed to stick together. Looking back, I guessed that his reaction had been just as much about his own outlook as anything else. He’d lost his older sister to school in another country and then marriage, and he’d lost his wife and daughter as they moved away. Maybe to him, when people left you, they didn’t come back.

To me, however, my time in Forks was a passing phase, a temporary stop to placate my parents before moving back to take my place in the Wizarding world. Even if I ended up studying at a Muggle university for a few years, I couldn’t see not being a part of the world that I had fought so hard for. My magic was as much a part of me as any of my physical attributes, and indelibly so.

“It was a great experience, Uncle Charlie. I learned a lot there.” There was so much I couldn’t tell him, but I could manage that much.

“If it was so great, why are you so eager to finish up over here? I would think you’d want to finish out your schooling where your friends are.”

He looked at me expectantly, as if this had been weighing on his mind. I’m sure he had questions, ones I couldn’t directly answer.

I sighed heavily. This was the downside to having a cop for an uncle. He was far too observant. What could I tell him that would make sense?

“I would have been fine finishing at my school, but Mum knew how much I wanted to broaden my horizons. I think branching out and having novel experiences allows us to better know the world around us.”

Of course, none of that was true, but I couldn’t exactly tell him that coming here was the condition that my parents had placed on me after I took away their memories and sent them to Australia, fought in a war to defeat a dark wizard and then tracked my parents down, reminded them that they had a daughter, and shared the details of the true nature of my time away from them.

I couldn’t tell him that I put a silencing charm on my room at night, or explain the reason I needed to, or fill him in on why I wore long sleeves nearly all the time.

Even without the restrictions of the Statute of Secrecy, there were just some things that one was better off without knowing, the true nature of the world and the beings that lived in it was just one of them.

Uncle Charlie seemed to chew on my answer for a moment before turning back to his meal.

“Okay.”

It looked like there was more he wanted to say, but he held back. I noticed the tips of his ears turned red and worried for a moment about what he was about to say.

“Do we need to have a talk about boys?”

I was not expecting that. I quickly shook my head, but he pressed on.

“I know you’re nearly grown and all that, but-”

“Uncle Charlie!” I jumped in to stop him, mortified. “Of all the things I have in front of me, that is the least of my concerns. I appreciate it, but no, that is _not_ something we need to discuss.”

I’d meant it, too. Besides, it made no sense to get involved with someone here, when my friends and the rest of my life were waiting for me back at home.

o0o

My first weekend in Forks passed by quickly. As promised, Uncle Charlie took me out in the truck to see how I handled the roads. I might have gone a tad slow, but he seemed comfortable with my driving. We made a plan for me to get my license the coming week. It would be good to have options. Once I had my license, I could find my way to the Wizarding enclave in Seattle. I could do the clothes shopping I had been putting off. Even if I kept walking to and from school most days, the truck would still come in handy. I didn’t mind a weekend at home, but I wanted to get out and learn the lay of the town better.

Based on the way that Mike continued to try to stick to my side, I figured he’d be willing to drive me anywhere, but that wasn’t something I was interested in. Jessica was also increasingly friendly to me at lunchtime, but I didn’t think her friendliness was genuine so much as she wanted to thwart anything that might develop between Mike and me. She needn’t have worried; I wasn’t interested.

“Edward Cullen is looking at you.”

Jessica had leaned over and whispered in my ear while I had been chatting with Angela about our English paper.

“Huh?” I turned my head and looked at her, wondering what she had said.

She nodded towards the table in the corner where five, not four, members of the Cullen family sat today. My lab partner had indeed returned to school, but it remained to be seen if he was still in the sixth period class or if he had managed to change his schedule as he had been trying to do when I last saw him. I looked up and met his gaze, holding it for a moment before turning back to Angela with a shrug. Bronte’s portrayal of religion in Wuthering Heights was far more interesting at the moment, plus it was relevant to a paper that was due next week.

Jessica, however, was not done.

“Seriously? They don’t pay attention to anyone, but he’s watching you?”

I turned back towards the brown-haired girl, puzzled by the continued commentary.

“What does it matter? Just don’t pay him any attention.”

“Easy for you to say, given _everyone_ seems to notice you.”

And there it was. That was what she had been dying to say, to make known her displeasure with the ripples I had caused in the social order of the Junior class at Forks High School.

I decided to pick my words carefully. I wanted Jessica to know that I wasn’t an appropriate repository for her angst, yet do it in a way that didn’t make me her enemy.

“I don’t know about that, Jessica. It’s not really so fun being new and having to learn everyone and everything all at once.” I said before tipping my head and fixing her with the most sincere smile I could muster. “At least you’ve made it easier, so thanks for that.”

If she wasn’t a bitch, I could see myself subtly redirecting Mike in her direction, but if Jessica wanted to make an enemy of me, that, too, could be arranged. She hadn’t even taken the time to get to know me, yet here she was being snippy because the boy she liked had paid me a bit of attention. I struggled to not roll my eyes.

What a waste of time and energy. Blonds weren’t even my type. I’d sooner date Draco Malfoy than Mike Newton — and that would surely never happen. I was just the new girl, the shiny penny they’d never seen before. Another week or two and Mike would forget all about me; while if Jessica really pissed me off, I was quite capable of holding a grudge, just ask Marietta Edgecombe.

I decided to take my leave of the lunch table a little early so I could stop by the library before our next class. It didn’t have much, certainly not the shelves upon shelves of musty tomes that the Hogwarts library boasted, but the math resources had helped tremendously. Besides, I had no need to brew potions or do research on the twelve uses of dragon’s blood. So far, everything here was blissfully straightforward.

As I stood, Mike, ever the faithful companion, started to get up, but I waved him off. Jessica looked confused for a moment, but then grinned as he again took his seat, realising that she might have his full attention for the next fifteen minutes.

I swapped out the Algebra text I had been using for the next one. It was getting easier, although I was still working to make sense of the current material. Mr Varner, the math teacher, was giving me a bit of time to catch up given I had come in mid-semester, but in another week or two, he was going to expect that I could keep up with the work, or I’d be moved down into an easier class. I knew it was a challenge, trying to cram two years of math into a couple weeks, but it wasn’t that difficult. Solving equations was like looking for patterns. It wasn’t Arithmancy, but it required a similar touch. One more weekend focused on it, and I was confident I would get where I needed to be, or at least to a point where I could ask questions and not seem like the material was beyond me.

I arrived in the Biology classroom a few minutes before class was about to start. To my surprise, I would have a partner for what looked like today’s lab assignment, given our teacher was walking around putting a microscope on each table.

I slipped behind him, put my bag down and pulled a notebook out.

“Hello.”

Color me shocked. Instead of the tense, uneasy boy who I’d sat next to on my first day last week, today, my table mate seemed open to being social.

“Hello there, I’m the new girl, Hermione Granger.”

I might as well state the obvious.

He looked amused. “So I’ve gathered. Edward Cullen.”

“I hope you’re feeling better.”

He looked surprised, as if he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“I had the table to myself most of last week, I figured you were out sick.”

“Oh… something like that,” he responded with a chuckle, as if there was more to the story I didn’t know.

At that moment, Mr Banner called the class to order and explained the lab we’d be doing — identifying the cellular division phase of onion cells. Not for the first time I thought about how Muggle technology could help revolutionise the Wizarding world. I could only imagine the possibilities of how potion preparation might be better standardised if ingredient efficacy could be increased by looking at the details on a microscopic level. While this lesson might be rudimentary, I was still excited to gain a bit of practical experience to help me think through how the gap between the two worlds might be narrowed.

I watched as my partner placed the first slide on the microscope and then waved his hand towards me.

“Ladies first.”

I froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Was I supposed to know how to use this? I looked around for a moment and saw different degrees of ease with the assignment.Thankfully, I wasn’t entirely out of my comfort zone. My parents had had a microscope in their dental office, and my father had shown me how to look through it when I was younger. It differed from the school-hardy model that sat on our table now, but there was a slide and a lens and a knob to fix the focus.

I nodded, then peered through the eye-piece, fiddled with the knob and then sat back.

“Prophase,” I said confidently. It looked just like the photo in the textbook had.

My partner quirked an eyebrow. “Do you mind?”

I pushed the microscope towards him. He could look if he wanted, but I was confident in my assessment.

He glanced at the slide before sitting back and nodding.

We both reached for the slide at the same time and his fingers brushed mine. I felt an odd sensation, as if current flowed between us. I frowned for a moment, but he didn’t seem to notice. I pulled my hand back, and he changed the slide, before stopping to fill in the blank on the lab sheet we had been given.

He peered into the microscope for just a second before sitting back and declaring, “Anaphase.”

He went to write it down, but I stopped him, reaching for the telescope. “May I?”

If he could question my assessment, then it was fair game for me to check his work.

I looked through the scope for a moment and nodded, seeing the telltale stretching of the chromosomes. He was right.

Edward handed me the next slide with a smirk on his face before finishing writing the answer.

His penmanship was impeccable, so unlike Harry’s scattered chicken scratch. It looked as if he would have been right at home holding a quill. I, for one, was glad to be in the land of pens. While I didn’t mind quills, I could do without the ink stains that had marked my writing hand and everything I owned during my time at Hogwarts.

I slid the next one into place and declared my answer, but waited for him to check before proceeding.

We finished the worksheet just a few minutes into the class period. It seemed as if all the other groups around us were still struggling to compare slides.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad.” I declared, looking over the sheet to make sure we had done everything we needed to do.

Edward seemed amused at my assessment. He looked at me straight on and I gasped. His eyes were so different today. Whereas last week they had seemed menacing, today, they seemed cheerful, a light butterscotch.

“What?” He asked, the amusement slipping from his face.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. It seemed silly to mention it, as if I had been paying close attention to him, when in actuality I hadn’t been. I must have not got a good look last week, or I was remembering incorrectly; it had to be one or the other.

Mr Banner stopped at our table, “Are you two done already?”

I handed him our worksheet, and he scanned it before handing it back. “And whose work was this?”

My table partner spoke up, “Hermione answered three out of five.”

“Ahh… Well, maybe you’ve met your match, Edward.” Mr Banner then wandered to the next table, leaving us alone again.

“What did he mean by that?”

Edward shrugged. “So you’re a good student?”

“I do what I can.” No sense in trying to explain that in other circumstances I had been, but here, I was out of my comfort zone in nearly every subject, although trying to catch up.

“And you’re from England.”

“Born and raised,” I declared, not that I could deny it; my accent made it clear.

“So why are you here in Forks?”

That was rather to the point.

“Ah, Charlie Swan is my uncle; he invited me to come stay with him.”

It was an answer, of sorts, although it seemed that Edward had been looking for more.

“So, just like that, you left home to come here?”

“No, it was a decision my parents and I made together, so I could have a different experience this year.”

Study abroad programs weren’t that uncommon. He had to be familiar with them. If nothing else, there had to be a Rotary Club nearby, extolling students on the benefits of a year away.

“Won’t they miss you?”

“Uh, no,” I faltered. His questions were so direct. They had me feeling off-kilter. “They’re in Australia right now, doing charity work.”

The answer rolled off my tongue, while leaving so much unsaid. I didn’t want to feel like the only one under the microscope, so I decided to turn the tables. Two could play this game.

“So, if you weren’t sick, why weren’t you in school last week?”

He froze for a moment, as if he was a statue. I could almost see the gears turning in his mind.

“Who said I wasn’t sick?” he asked, frowning.

“You did.” I said as a matter of fact. “When I asked if you were sick last week, you didn’t confirm it.”

It seemed I had hit on something he didn’t want to talk about.

“I wasn’t sick,” he answered carefully, “but I also wasn’t able to come to school.”

That was a curious answer. I debated whether I would push for more, but held back. After all, we seemed to be on much better footing than we had been last week, and if we had to work together all semester, it made more sense to keep the peace.

“You’re rather interesting, Hermione Granger.”

The way he said my name made my stomach feel funny. It sounded more like a physical touch, a caress, rather than only words coming from him. I suddenly understood what it meant to have a “honeyed voice” and shifted in my seat, willing the feeling to go away. I didn’t know why something about him seemed familiar, but it did. However, I had plenty of other things to focus on than a lab partner that ran hot and cold, and I certainly didn’t need the distraction.

As I walked home after P.E., I loosened the bun that had held my hair back against the constant humidity in the air, and shook out my curls to let them free. As I reached the parking lot, I saw Edward leaning against the car in which I knew he rode back and forth with his siblings.

There was no way to avoid our paths crossing, as close as the sidewalk would pass to where he was standing. Unable to ignore him, I met his gaze and nodded in acknowledgement as I walked past and headed towards home.


	4. Ice

It didn’t take long to settle into a routine, and as I had predicted, by the second week, some of my shininess had worn off.

I hadn’t been entirely able to shake Mike Newton’s attention, but at least Jessica wasn’t being openly hostile.

Angela’s notes had been a godsend, and I had been able to catch up in just about every class. Spanish was a bit of an issue, but its similarity to French, and my knowledge of Latin, gave me just enough of a foothold to not be entirely lost.

I was busy, which was good. Busy meant that I fell asleep and slept deeply, not every night, but enough of them that I was beginning to feel more like myself in the classroom, at least. Not that I planned on raising my hand. This wasn’t Hogwarts, after all. There would be no house points given out for correct answers, and no one seemed eager to volunteer anything. Instead, teachers asked, pleaded and cajoled for anyone to participate before calling on someone who may or may not have been listening in the first place. At least, I still seemed to be in my grace period in most classes, except for English, where Mr Mason had found my first essay to be “inspired.”

How was I to know that one typically did not exceed the page limit? It had always been my practice to ensure I was thoroughly discussing a topic. After all, why unnecessarily limit yourself to two feet of parchment on the Goblin Wars, when you really couldn’t do it justice in less than three?

It seemed American school was different in that way. It was taking some getting used to, but I was up for the challenge.

Things seemed to be progressing back at home as well. A letter from Ginny had finally arrived, bringing with it the first news from my friends since leaving. The owl post forwarding in Seattle had worked seamlessly, and I needed to plan a trip to take my reply so it could make the return journey.

Ginny had filled me in on as much as she could. Understandably, everyone was still missing Fred, but George and Ron were hoping to have the store ready for the upcoming Christmas season. It would still take a while before Diagon Alley was back to being the bustling thoroughfare it had been, but every bit of progress would give people hope, and that it was a joke shop couldn’t hurt either.

Apparently, Harry was keeping up with his Auror training and had even been out in the field for a few smaller missions. Personally, I worried Harry would bury himself in his new career to avoid doing any of the real work I knew he needed to do to get his head together, but I also knew that he wouldn’t be able to rest until he could be assured that things were safe.

I hoped that the lack of news of any attacks or uprisings meant that the Ministry was doing its job, either that or Ginny had omitted anything she thought might upset me.

Truth was, Ginny didn’t pay attention to the same things I would have, but she had given me enough to know that everyone was doing the best they could, and that I was missed. The rebuilding efforts were going well, and Hogwarts might be ready for a half term in the Spring that would give students a chance to complete the prior term that had been suddenly cut short when much of the school was blown apart.

It had been good to hear a bit of what was going on with everyone. I missed them, and the thought of not being at Hogwarts when it reopened caused a bit of angst, but then again, it had been over a year since I was last a student there, and I could admit that while I missed home, Forks was growing on me, at least a little.

Still, the morning after receiving Ginny’s letter, I fished my Weasley sweater out of the closet. Wearing it would be a good reminder of those who I loved, even though we weren’t in the same place right now.

As I hit the bottom step, however, I paused, noticing how bright it seemed outside this morning.

Uncle Charlie was sitting by the door, putting on his boots.

“It’s gonna be a bit of a mess today, Hermione. We got some ice overnight. If you’re about ready, I’ll drop you on my way, but I need to get in.”

A combination of a system off of the Pacific and a blast of cold air from Canada had brought an early storm and deposited a layer of ice over much of the world outside.

“Are you sure we’ll have school?”

Hogwarts never needed to cancel class because of the weather since we all lived there, but it might be a necessary precaution today.

He shook his head. “It’s not as bad as it looks. In an hour or two, it will have melted. People just need to remember to drive carefully this morning. But, given it’s the first real weather of the season, that’s unlikely.”

I grabbed my bag and coat. It made no sense for me to even try to drive this morning. If I hit something, I was sure that the truck would be okay due its weight, but I wasn’t confident about the safety for whatever I might hit.

As we made the short drive to school, it became clear that Uncle Charlie had been right. Two calls came in over the radio in rapid succession — accidents.

“Here we go. Be careful out there, Hermione. Watch your step.”

He pulled over at the entrance to the parking lot to drop me off before responding to the first call.

Between the driveway and the sidewalk, it looked like the drive would give me better footing. I picked my way along slowly, trying to not slip.

_Walk like a penguin, walk like a penguin._

The advice from Viktor came rushing back from years ago. He had mentioned it as we had walked along the frozen shore of the Black Lake one afternoon. He was adamant on showing me that while skates were nice; they weren’t always needed. I adjusted my stance and walked on, making it to the parking lot before too long.

It seemed that everyone might benefit from a bit of a slower start today. There were fewer cars in the lot, although predictably, the shiny Volvo with all the latest technology seemed to have made it without a problem. Its occupants were just getting out.

I cursed myself for the momentary lapse in focus as my foot slipped on the ice and reached for the trunk of a nearby car to steady myself and regain my footing. I had only stopped for a moment when I heard a cacophony of sound. Someone had lost control of their car in the icy parking lot and was sliding across the ice. The back of their car had started fishtailing, and it seemed to be heading in my direction.

You know how they say that time slows down when your life is about to end? I don’t know whether or not that’s true, but I can tell you that as I calculated the trajectory of the car to my proximity, I had several thoughts in rapid succession.

They ranged from how stupid it would be to have survived a war, only to get crunched by a Muggle car, and that Harry would absolutely kill me, if somehow I survived the initial impact. I also wondered if my parents might choose to stay in Australia, rather than return home to a place that might never seem like home to them again, if maybe they would regret getting their memories back at all, rather than remaining ignorant of a daughter whose life had been cut short. But as the screeching wheels got closer, my thoughts narrowed to try to find a path forward that involved none of those things.

There wasn’t enough time to get out of the way. If I attempted to move quickly, there was a very good chance I might fall. Good thing I had another option. I slipped a hand into my pocket and grasped for my wand, thankful to have it on me. It wasn’t ideal to do magic with people around, but it was preferable to dying. I figured MACUSA might not be thrilled, but hopefully they would understand.

The driver gunned the engine in a futile attempt to regain control, but it was no use. I had only a moment to make a decision.

Repello or Apparate.

I was sure I had been seen as I made my way up the drive. Someone would notice if I suddenly appeared across the parking lot. Plus, there was the manner of being able to twist on the ice and maintain the deliberation needed with all the adrenaline that was now coursing through me.

Repello or Apparate.

On the other hand, there would be no easy explanation for the car being pushed across the parking lot, and I didn’t want to end up hurting anyone else.

At the last possible moment, I settled for a third choice that popped into my head. A small Bombarda aimed at the tire would stop the forward momentum of the car, disabling it. It made the most sense. I wouldn’t even need to remove my wand from my pocket.

The words had no sooner left my lips than I felt a pair of arms around my waist, yanking me out of the way and knocking me to the ground.

I heard the pop of the tire and a shattering of glass, but no nasty crunch of metal, before my head hit the pavement, hard. I hoped whoever was driving was okay, given the sudden stop.

At least, my spell had hit its target; and I was alive.

I opened my eyes and found them looking up into warm, butterscotch eyes. It was Edward Cullen. His face was contorted in an emotion I couldn’t immediately give name to. Was it concern?

“Hermione, are you okay?” He asked in an anxious tone.

My hand flew to my head. “Ow.”

I started to sit up.

“You hit your head rather hard. You should probably stay down.”

Against his advice, I sat up. The ground was cold and wet, and I had no interest in staying down there longer than needed.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you talking about? I was standing next to you.”

I frowned. My head was hurting, but I had missed nothing.

“No, you weren’t. I saw you, you were just getting out of your car.”

His voice turned cold. “You’re mistaken, Hermione. I was right here all along.”

That was odd. Why would he lie about where he had been? And how had he got over here so quickly?

At that moment, several other faces peered over the edge of the car. Whether they were expecting to see carnage wasn’t clear.

I heard other voices barking orders. “Call an ambulance!” “Get Tyler out of the car!”

I tried to stand, but Edward held me back. He crouched in front of me, his hand pressing on my shoulder.

“You really need to stay down until someone checks you out. I wouldn’t want you to pass out or anything.”

“Is the driver- Is Tyler okay?”

He was in our class. The poor thing was probably terrified. I hoped he hadn’t been hurt by the glass or the sudden stop.

“I’m sure he’s fine. I’m more worried about you. It sounds like you might have a concussion.”

“I’m sure I don’t. And I didn’t need your help.”

I started to stand again so I could see Tyler for myself, only to stop as I realised Edward had me pinned and I couldn’t get up unless he released me. His arm seemed immovable; I couldn’t shake it off.

He looked at me, his eyes were serious.

“Didn’t you, though? The car was headed straight for you. I would think you’d be a little grateful for my help.”

“If I have a concussion, it’s only because you knocked me down. Thanks for that.”

I knew my tone was more than a little acerbic, but this was not the start of the day that I had been expecting, and my head did hurt.

“And you really shouldn’t assume that I’m the type of girl who needs rescuing,” I added.

He frowned, but was forced to back up as two adults pushed him out of the way.

I regretted my choice of words. If it had been anyone else that the car had been heading for, we’d have had a much different scene on our hands. I knew I should be thankful for his concern, but how did he get to me so quickly? And why would he lie about it? I knew he hadn’t been standing anywhere near me.

It had only been a matter of seconds between when the car started sliding, when I cast the charm, and when I opened my eyes.

I groaned as I heard sirens in the distance and tried to stand again.

“Hermione, no. You need to wait for the paramedics.”

The sound of Mr Banner’s voice brokered no argument.

“And Tyler?” I asked, still worried about what the impact may have done to him. I knew I couldn’t help him, but I just wanted to lay eyes on him and make sure he was okay.

“He’s fine.” Another voice reassured. “You just stay still until we can get you checked out.”

The medics insisted the two of us be taken to the hospital. I had no choice but to go along, although no one even thought to ask whether Edward needed to go.

They took me first, due to the possible head and neck injuries. The paramedics insisted on securing me to a backboard before placing it on a stretcher and then loading me into an ambulance. I couldn’t see much, given how they had secured my head, but based on the surrounding murmur, more of the students had arrived during all the hubbub.

So much for fading out of the spotlight.

“My bag!” I called, as they prepared to shut the doors.

“Don’t worry, someone’s got it.” Mr Banner called.

I guess that was part of the benefit of Forks being such a small place, it would find its way to me somehow. I touched my leg and exhaled; my wand was still in place.

The emergency room was a series of sights and sounds. I suspected it had been a far busier morning than they usually saw. They wheeled me into a bay and deposited me on a bed, before moving onto the next task. I didn’t know how long it might be, so I closed my eyes, willing the pounding in my head to stop.

The next time I heard movement near me, it was the ambulance returning with Tyler. They wheeled him into the bay right next to me, so I could see the twinkle of glass in his scalp and the telltale sign of blood.

Bollocks.

Given the alternative, I was glad he seemed relatively unhurt, but the blood in his hair made me hyperventilate. It was blood that I had caused to be spilled. The first time since May I had been in this position, and I couldn’t even claim that it was inadvertent. I had taken the actions that had caused this to happen. I was responsible.

I closed my eyes again and worked to regulate my breathing.

He, however, was far more concerned about me than himself.

“Hermione! Oh, I’m so sorry! I slid on the ice. Thank God the tire blew! I don’t know what I would have done!”

Nothing. There was nothing he could have done, and yet, had I not acted, it would have been a completely different outcome for me.

I kept my eyes closed, hoping someone would see my discomfort and pull the curtain between us.

“I’m okay; I just hit my head. How are you? Are you okay?”

Better to get the focus off of me and put it where it belonged.

“Yeah, that’s what Edward said. I’m fine. I was so worried about you.”

So now even more people had been told about my “concussion.”

“Really, I’m fine. I just have a headache.”

“Oh.” His voice deflated. “Sorry.”

He did not need to keep apologising.

At that moment, I heard a voice that did nothing for the pain in my head.

“Is she sleeping?”

I sighed and cracked open one eye, recognising the voice. Clearly, this wasn’t a place to rest. I wondered how long I’d need to be here before they let me go. I had been looking forward to the planned lecture in Government today on Federalism.

My lab partner was standing at the foot of my bed, with my bag slung across his shoulder. He placed it on the table next to me before taking a seat.

“Edward, I’m so sorry.” Tyler began anew.

“Hey, no worries. I’m fine. Listen, I’m going to pull this curtain so Hermione can get a bit of quiet. You understand, right?”

It was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, that I wanted to be left alone.

However, he deposited himself on my side of the curtain.

I frowned.

“How’s the head?” he asked in a low voice, not wanting to invite Tyler into further conversation through the curtain.

“Same as it was,” I answered truthfully. “No ambulance for you?”

He shook his head.

“No need. I wasn’t injured,” he declared, “and I happen to know the doc. All things considered, it could have been much worse.”

Indeed, it could have been. But for his interference, however, I wouldn’t have been nursing this splitting headache.

It was then that the doctor entered with a nurse trailing behind him. He was young and blond. My first thought was that there was no way he could be old enough to be a doctor.

I turned to look at Edward, putting two and two together from what Angela had told me. This was his adoptive father.

“Miss… Granger, is it?”

I nodded.

“I’m Dr Cullen. I hear you took quite a tumble.”

He then performed a standard exam, shining a light in my eyes, checking to make sure that my pupils were both evenly sized and equally reactive. He then moved on to check my reflexes and lastly to palpate my head after he determined my neck seemed to be fine. A magical diagnostic would be so much faster and more comprehensive, but one can only use the technology they have.

He turned to the nurse. “Let’s get a CT.”

“No.” I shook my head for a moment before realising that didn’t feel like a good thing to do.

“Miss Granger, we should check, just to make sure everything is okay in there. I was told you hit your head pretty hard.”

That was Edward, I was sure. He would have been the source of that rumour.

“No,” I repeated. “I’m of age, and I don’t consent to the test. Besides, even if I had a concussion, the treatment would be the same, namely rest.”

Dr Cullen sat back, looking pensive.

“You seem rather well informed on the matter.”

Harry had had enough concussions and mishaps during Quidditch that I knew the protocol well enough, although in that case, Madam Pomfrey had always had the right potion on hand to speed along his recovery. Even so, there was no substitute for rest, and Hogwarts’ matron was quick to prescribe an overnight stay as part of her regimen.

I shrugged. “Not my first go round.”

“You mean you’ve hit your head before?” He leaned in, concerned, and I could see he was calculating how to convince me to have the diagnostic test done.

“No,” I answered emphatically, “but I’ve been around people who have. Let’s make a deal. I’ll go home, take some pain reliever. I won’t open a book or watch the telly, and if my headache gets any worse, I’ll have my uncle bring me back to get checked out.”

It wouldn’t be necessary. I was sure. A good nap and I’d be feeling right as rain.

Dr Cullen considered the compromise. “And your uncle will need to check on you throughout the night.”

I nodded. Anything to get out of this place.

“Okay. You win, but you have to promise me that if anything changes about the way you feel, you’ll let me know right away. And if there’s any vomiting or if your vision changes, you get back here right away.”

The young doctor stood. He really was quite gorgeous, and his eyes were the same unusual shade as Edward’s. I’d been told he was adopted, along with his siblings, but the resemblance between them was striking.

“I’m so sorry this happened, Miss Granger, but I’m glad I was able to meet you. Take care of yourself. I’ll work on getting you discharged.”

He seemed sincere in his apology, but it confused me why he was sorry in the first place or had any thoughts on meeting me. I guess that was small town life for you.

They left me alone for a while after that. I wanted to take out a book to read, but knew that was the surest way of being invited to stay so they could monitor me more closely.

So instead, I closed my eyes and listened to the noises around me. Instantly, I could hear the steady tink of glass being picked out of Tyler’s cuts.

I felt horrible knowing I had been the cause of it. At least his injuries were minor; his day would have been much worse if he had actually hit me.

After a bit, I heard footsteps coming closer and hoped it was the nurse letting me know I was free to go, but it was only Edward.

“I’ve come to spring you.”

“You? You’re the one who’s telling me?”

He shrugged. “It’s all about who you know.”

I sat up and slipped my feet into my trainers.

“Well, thanks for that.” I paused and lowered my voice to avoid being overheard. “So are you going to tell me how you got over there so fast?”

“I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The corners of his mouth fell into a frown.

“Here’s something you don’t know about me. When I don’t know something, I’m kind of like a dog with a bone.”

He looked at me for a moment. “I wish you wouldn’t,” he said with an air of honesty before his expression shifted again. “And besides, no one would believe you, anyway.”

I shrugged. “Who said I cared what anyone else thinks? Maybe I just want to understand.”

“There’s nothing to understand. You hit your head.”

“So you keep saying.”

I stood cautiously, but even then, I wobbled for a moment, and instantly, Edward’s hand was there to steady me.

“Thanks,” I grimaced.

He raised an eyebrow, as if to say “I told you so” but didn’t give voice to it.

Uncle Charlie met me in the waiting room, his face full of concern, along with much of the Junior Class. It seemed they had needed a bit of excitement, and Tyler and I had provided it. There was an outpouring of concern, but Charlie shepherded me through it and got me into the cruiser.

“When I told you to be careful…” he said significantly.

“I know. I did my best, but clearly I didn’t plan for that.”

He swallowed before nodding.

“You’ll need to call your parents when you get home.”

My face fell. “You didn’t. There was nothing wrong with me.”

“I didn’t know that at the time,” he replied. “And besides, they’re your parents. I think coming that close to being hit by a car is something for them to be aware of.”

“Boundaries, Uncle Charlie. I could have let them know myself, but now they’re probably all worked up, and I’ll have to talk them down.”

He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “As your uncle, I get to look out for you, no matter how old you are. And besides, if I hadn’t said anything, you mother would have had my head for not telling her. Sorry, kid, between the two of you, you’re the easier one to deal with.”

I struggled to keep from smiling and sighed heavily. “You’re not wrong.”

“Exactly.” He nodded, knowing he had won this round.

o0o

Not surprisingly, my parents were not thrilled to hear about my brush with death.

“Seriously, Hermione. You need to be more careful. We sent you to Forks to keep you safe,” my mother explained while my father waited his turn to have his say.

“I know. I was as surprised as anyone.”

“At least you’re all right.”

“I am, but now that you know I’m okay, I’m going to go lie down. Doctor’s orders. Besides, it’s the middle of the night over there, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter, Hermione. We were worried.”

I understood. This was why I was even here, so they could appropriately express their parental concern, even though in this instance, I thought it was misplaced.

“I’m sorry you were worried. I hope you both can get some rest.”

“We love you, dear. We just want you to be okay.”

To be safe was what remained unspoken.

“I love you, too. Good night.”

It was only noon in Washington State, but Melbourne was almost a day ahead. 

My task done, I poured a glass of water and headed upstairs for my day of boredom. Uncle Charlie had already headed back to the office, anxious to leave me alone, but also concerned for what he might be missing.

I assured him that Dr Cullen had given me strict instructions that I would follow, and since I was probably going to take a nap, he was better off heading to work. He seemed relieved as I shooed him out the door, promising to call him if I needed him.

I climbed onto my bed, tucking a warm fleece blanket around me, and lay there trying to not toss and turn too much.

If there was an art to sitting still, I hadn’t yet mastered it. I was used to being busy, to having something to read or do or think about, so not being able to resort to any of my usual pastimes was a bit maddening. It was just not in my nature to be able to turn off the thoughts in my head, but I knew that was exactly what I needed to do.

I realised that this was a rare spot of downtime, which really hadn’t happened in recent memory. Sure, immediately after the war, there wasn’t much to do at first, but that was covered by the weight of grief and the practicalities. And even then, I had been thinking about my parents and when I could head to Australia, how Ron was managing, and how Harry was adjusting. There weren’t many times that I had just focused on me.

I wondered if that was a little sad or pathetic, that I had been so outwardly focused for so long. Maybe it was catching up with me now, with all the ghosts rattling around in my head. Maybe that’s why my parents had been so insistent on getting me out of Britain, on me not returning to Hogwarts. Maybe I needed distance, perspective, a break.

Sometime later, when the ibuprofen kicked in, I finally fell asleep.

Later that evening, Uncle Charlie brought me a tray with soup and crackers. I was thankful for his thoughtfulness. He looked me over carefully, as if he was going to find something that Dr Cullen had missed.

“So, I’m supposed to check on you every couple hours. I know I might have missed one already. How are you feeling?”

I did my best to show a small smile.

“Hanging in there. No nausea or anything. I think I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”

“We’ll see. I’ll be back for that in a bit and then I’ll check on you before I head to bed. Okay?”

I nodded in agreement. The pounding in my head was better, but I could probably do with another round of pain reliever. After I finished, I put the tray aside and made my way to the bathroom, before I crawled back into bed. Even my limbs were heavy, as if enforcing a mandatory rest period.

I vaguely remembered Uncle Charlie coming to check on me before he went to bed, as he muttered something about silly teenagers who always think they know best, or something of the sort.

And I had no idea what time it was, when he barrelled into my room and suddenly switched on the light.

“Hermione! What’s wrong?”

It took me a moment to realise that it was my screaming that had woken him, and given him a terrible fright, besides.

“I’m so sorry. Bad dream.” I muttered. My eyes refused to meet his, and I wrapped my arms around my middle as I tried to settle myself. With all that had happened, and as sleepy as I had been, I had forgotten to cast a silencing charm on my room. Of all nights, it seemed that between the extra rest and the head trauma, my Occlumency walls had completely fallen, letting the contents of several of my boxes of horrors roam free in my psyche.

I couldn’t remember what I had been dreaming of, but there were plenty of options.

He reached out to touch me, and I shied away, not wanting his comfort in this moment. I already felt vulnerable as it was.

“That was no bad dream.”

“Nightmare. I get them from time to time.”

“I’m sorry. Do your parents know?”

I nodded. During my time in Australia, all of our talking, and particularly my honesty, had taken a toll on me, but not for long before I began silencing my room, not wanting to bother them. However, my parents had quickly figured that out, and then made me leave my door open, so they could check on me when the nights were bad. That wasn’t going to work here. I had no interest in Uncle Charlie having to monitor me like a child.

“Well, tell me, what did they do? How did they help you?” He looked helpless. It must have scared the crap out of him. “You’ve got to give me something to do here, kiddo. I’m still waiting for my heart rate to settle back down.”

“A cup of hot chocolate?” I asked. “It may help me fall back to sleep.”

He nodded, happy to have something concrete to do.

“Gimme five minutes. I’ll be right back.”

I listened to his footfalls down the stairs and slipped out of bed as quietly as I could, opening my desk drawer to find one of the vials stored inside. As much as I would have preferred to take a Dreamless Sleep, Uncle Charlie would be trying to wake me up, and I worried that any hesitancy in waking would land me back in the hospital. So, I settled on half a Calming Draught. Just enough to take the edge off and allow me to relax. I tipped the phial back and then replaced the cork before tiptoeing back to bed.

“You scared me there.”

He handed me my hot chocolate and sat on my bed, looking at me with a face full of concern. He brushed the curls from my face, feeling for himself how feverish and sweaty the nightmare had made me.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Charlie. Really, I know this must be such-”

“Don’t you finish that sentence,” he interrupted. “You’re not a bother. You’re not a burden. And while I’m sorry you had a nightmare, at least now I know, so I don’t run in here with a gun thinking someone is trying to get you.”

I giggled at the imagery. He was such a good man. He reminded me how lucky I was to have people who loved me in my life. Not everyone was that fortunate. And thankfully, I had left the substance of those nightmares behind. All that was left now were the scars and the memories, like an echo of the actions and experiences in my past. They were potent to be sure, but memories couldn’t hurt you, at least not directly.

I took a deep breath, feeling the effects of the Calming Potion begin to take effect, buoyed by the hot chocolate settling in my stomach.

As my eyelids began drooping, he took my mug and turned out the light once more.

“Try to get some rest.”

I nodded. “You, too.”

I curled up under the blankets once more, listening to the sounds of the house as I drifted off. I thought I heard a floorboard squeak in my room, but dismissed it as sleep took me once more.

Mercifully, I didn’t dream. There were no visions of red blood or green flashes. No grey skies that swirled around crumbling stone walls. There were no cackling laughs or visions of sculpted masks designed to heighten one’s fear.

For once, I didn’t feel lost in the terror or hunger or desperation that had enveloped so much of the last year. My body was tired, my mind was exhausted, and I slipped into a deep, restorative sleep of my body’s own making, as it did its best to sweep away the damage from far more than just the day’s events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate the comments and kudos! Thanks for following along!


	5. Making Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to Kifiyathewriter for keeping me on the straight and narrow.

By the following morning, the ice was long gone, but my headache remained, although it had receded to a dull throb. While Uncle Charlie agreed that I did not have a concussion, he still encouraged me to take the day off to rest and recuperate. I figured that his concern had as much to do with the way I had interrupted his sleep, as he, himself, was dragging this morning.

I tried to wave it off and insist that I was fine to go to school today, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

“You don’t get a lot of chances in life to just rest, and sometimes that’s what your body needs,” he explained as he laced up his boots. “Call me if you need anything.”

The sound of the door closing behind him echoed in the empty hall, as I stood wondering what I would do with this found day. Missing two days of school didn’t sit right with me, and I had got more than enough rest, even with the early morning interruption. But he was right, it was better to not push and let my head recover. I scrounged for some breakfast before grabbing a pen and some paper from upstairs. Today would be a good day to catch up on my correspondence and make a plan to get to Seattle.

> _Dear Ginny,_
> 
> _Thanks for your letter. All is well here. I’m settling in just fine, although I miss everyone at home._
> 
> _You’ll be happy to know that I’m being subjected to the torture of “gym class” where they make me run around in shorts and pretend to be athletic. As you can imagine, for me, that’s about as bad as it gets. I would almost rather get on a broom. Almost._
> 
> _To answer your questions, yes, I’ve settled in. My uncle was happy to see me, and given there’s just the two of us, the house is fairly quiet. Yes, there are plenty of boys in my class and some of them don’t look too bad, but as I’m sure you can guess, my focus is on my studies. I have a lot of catching up to do, and I’m also trying to get my head in a better place. American high school is a far cry from Hogwarts. Ron would be appalled at the quality of the food, that’s for sure, but it’s definitely better than most of what we had last year._
> 
> _I’m glad to hear George and Ron are keeping busy. I imagine your mum is doing her best to hold things together, and I’m sure you miss Fred, too. Tell your dad that I have a truck now, although I haven’t driven it much. It’s nothing special, but apparently it’s mine while I’m here. I’ll try to send a picture if I can find a camera. Everyone seems to have something to drive here, given there’s no real public transport and the distances are so far (and there’s no connected Floo where I am!)._
> 
> _I worry about you, Gin. I’m sorry to have left you on your own to try to hold the boys together while you have your own grieving to do. I expected us to be together for this and not be halfway around the world. You are one of the strongest people I know, but even us strong ones have to take a break sometimes._
> 
> _For me, while it has been an adjustment, the time away has been good so far. Forks is quiet and safe, and the only bad things are the ones still rattling around my head, but even their rattles seem to be getting quieter._
> 
> _I miss you. I love you._
> 
> _Hermione_

I put the pen down and took a deep breath. That was one done, for my most reliable correspondent. I’m sure she would roll her eyes at the real talk, but it needed to be said. Ginny would push through everything, ignoring her own needs, until things came crashing down around her, but she was also fiercely independent and I couldn’t do anything more than gently suggest that she take care of herself. In some ways, we were a lot alike.

I had one more letter that I needed to send. While Ginny would be sure to pass along my news to Harry, I couldn’t help but send him a letter, too. As long as we had known each other, and for all that we had been through together, but first I needed to gather my thoughts.

While the Weasleys loved us both, he didn’t have that many people who knew who he truly was. There were plenty of people who idolised him, but not so many who just loved him for being Harry, as opposed to the Boy who Lived twice, and I wasn’t sure how many letters were finding their way to Grimmauld Place these days.

I knew Harry had thrown himself into Auror training to feel useful, to find some control, to help catch the remaining dark wizards, and clean up the Wizarding world. These were all valid reasons, but deep down, I knew in the quiet times, he experienced the same challenges that I did — that we all did. Only Harry always felt he had to carry everything by himself, instead of opening up and admitting it when he was having trouble. It had always been that way. I loved his bravery and was annoyed by his stubbornness, and worried that without me there to help balance things out, it would be easy for him to ignore his own need for time and healing. 

I got up and made myself a cup of tea before curling up on the sofa to pen my second letter.

> _Dear Harry,_
> 
> _For better or for worse, there’s not a lot to report. As suspected, Forks is a rather quiet place. I know you’re glad about that, and it turns out I am, too. While I miss you and miss home, I have realised how badly I needed to rest. It turns out that my parents were right about that, although it doesn’t take away the feeling that I am missing out._
> 
> _I won’t bore you with the details about school. Needless to say, it’s fine. Plenty for me to sink my teeth into, and I don’t even have to find extra time to help you and Ron with your revisions. (haha) Most everyone seems nice enough. You know I hate being the centre of attention, so I’ll be glad when the novelty wears off._
> 
> _How is training going? Have you been to see a mind healer yet? I know you were resistant when we last talked, but I think if you’d just see reason, you’d recognise that you may not be able to work through everything you experienced on your own._
> 
> I paused, wondering if I should tell him about yesterday’s incident, but decided not to. No harm, no foul and all that. It would only make him worry.
> 
> _In any event, I miss you. (And Ron, too, since he’s probably reading this over your shoulder.) I know it would be a hassle to get Muggle money and find a phone booth, but you’ve got my uncle’s number, and I sure would love to hear your voice._
> 
> _Be good to yourself and behave._
> 
> _Love,_
> 
> _Hermione_

I had to walk a fine line with him. I didn’t want to be too preachy, but I also didn’t want to leave things unsaid. There was so much that Harry could use help to sort through. Our entire time at Hogwarts had been one narrowly averted disaster after another, and some hadn’t been averted at all. He had been through so much. I knew he still carried guilt over Sirius’s death, and I couldn’t imagine what it was like to have had Voldemort in your head, other than my experience with the locket, which surely didn’t measure up.

I worried that if he didn’t tackle things head on, that it would all build up inside him until it came tumbling out, and that wouldn’t be a good thing for anyone, least of all him.

I sealed and addressed both letters and then grabbed my laptop to see what my options might be to get to the Wizarding enclave in Seattle.

The challenge was, it was too far for me to drive, at least comfortably, and it wasn’t as if I could just ask someone to take me, and then ditch them once we arrived. That wouldn’t do. While there was a bus, or really a series of buses, it would take an extraordinarily long time to get there and back; and I didn’t see Uncle Charlie going along with any reason I could come up with to take the bus to Seattle for the day, so that was out.

This was the problem of being in the middle of nowhere. Getting anywhere took both means and effort. I needed to find a way that made more sense. I’d only need to do it the hard way one time. Once I had an Apparition point scouted, it would only take a matter of moments, but one had to be able to have the arrival point firmly in mind, and one couldn’t do that if they’d never been there.

I pulled up a map, looking at options. Forks was an outpost that sat largely on its own in the midst of the greenery on the edge of the Olympic National Park. Port Angeles, the town I had flown into, was about an hour away. It was easy enough to get to; even I could drive that far by myself.

Beyond Port Angeles, there were other small towns that dotted the route on the way to Seattle. Sequim. Blyn. Port Townsend. Funny and unfamiliar names that lined the road near to the coast that marked the line between forest and town, between the parts of the world that were assumed to be orderly and those that weren’t. Knowing what I knew, it all seemed like a ruse, but I was glad that Muggles were blissfully ignorant of the things that actually went bump in the night.

I opened the Yellow Pages site on my laptop and began scrolling through the listings for each town, hoping to find something that sparked some interest — something that might be more than it appeared. Somewhere there might be a Floo connected, or even someone who might provide an option I hadn’t thought of. Unlike Britain, much of American Wizarding society was hidden in plain sight. Whether due to the size of the country or the rugged individualism of its inhabitants, there just wasn’t the same concentration of wizards and witches living together, and many lived a life integrated in the Muggle communities around them. There had to be something magical in my search of the surrounding area, since Seattle was big enough to have an enclave of its own.

That was the limitation of Apparition, I had to see a place to have options. I’d need to physically visit some of these locations and build up a store of memories that I could use to guide my travel, assuming I could find them in the first place. After all, Forks was rather small, and having made my way through the wider world for the past year, I was sure that there would be times I might grow restless with the same routine — or more likely, that I would want new books.

While Port Angeles had several New Age shops among its offerings, I wasn’t convinced there were magical folk running them. Muggles seemed just as prone to pretending to have “the sight” while pedalling crystals and dubious charms, and as I scanned the entries, none struck me as particularly interesting or insightful. I needed more of a sure thing — somewhere where I could almost be guaranteed to come across a witch or wizard.

I switched to the next town and paused when I came across the entry for the Sequim Botanical Company, reading the brief description:

_A family-owned apothecary specialising in the highest quality natural and wildcrafted ingredients._

This was it. This had to be a Potions maker. If I could get to Sequim, they might be able to help me make my way to Seattle; and since Sequim was just on the other side of Port Angeles, it was close enough that I could make it there on my own.

I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, just knowing I would have a connection to the magical world and almost laughed in relief, but that reaction took me by surprise.

I had lived the last seven years straddling between the Muggle and magical worlds, spending only holidays and summers with my parents in the Muggle world, as I had done for the first eleven years of my life. The past seven had been marked by the fantastic and the bizarre before taking several darker turns. Nevertheless, magic was an integral part of who I was. While I could navigate the Muggle world with ease, I knew I would relish getting to see the Wizarding enclave in Seattle and feel the pulse of magic around me once again.

At some point, I must have dozed off, but woke to the sound of a knock on the door. A glance at the clock showed it was nearly four in the afternoon. Shaking off the sleep, I wandered downstairs and saw Angela smiling and waving through the glass.

“Hermione! Hey! I thought I would come by and check on you and drop off your assignments. If you’re anything like me, I know you don’t want to fall behind. What a mess that was yesterday! How are you doing?”

I appreciated her sincere concern, unlike others who I knew would be interested in the more sensational aspects of my near-miss. I could guess what the buzz had been — that the new girl had almost been run over in the parking lot. Yet another reason to not have been present today. Hopefully tomorrow would be better.

“I’m good. Thanks so much. Everything happened so fast. My head hit the ground pretty hard, so Dr Cullen made me take it easy, but I’m fine now. How did you know where I lived?”

As soon as the question left my mouth, I realised the answer.

Angela chuckled and confirmed what I had thought. “This is Forks. Everyone knows where everyone lives.”

That was something I’d have to get used to.

“So, are you okay? Really? That must have been terrifying.”

Her eyes met mine, searching to see if I was making light of my injuries, whether physical or mental. I guess anyone else in that position would have been rather shaken up. I’m sure I would have been too, had I not had options, had I not had the ability to take care of the situation.

I changed the subject. Better to let her decide what to make of that.

“Did Tyler make it to school today?”

“He did, and he looks a mess. He was looking for you all day, to apologise, I’m sure. His parents must have gone nuts when they heard what happened.” Angela shook her head.

Guilt gnawed at my insides, and again I wondered if I had made the right choice, given it had resulted in someone else’s injury, no matter how minor. Rationally, I knew that his cuts and abrasions would heal, but had I thought that he might get hurt, I might have chosen a different path.

“There really was nothing he could have done,” I reassured her. “It was just a random accident. And besides, I’m fine. I’ll be back in school tomorrow.”

“Good. I’ve missed our lunch time chats.”

She started taking out papers to show me what work had been covered in my absence, but there was one more question that I wanted to ask before she did.

“Say Angela, was Edward Cullen there?”

I hoped it didn’t seem strange for me to ask, but it shouldn’t be, since somehow he had ended up as close to the near-collision as I was. I knew he was physically fine — he had walked away from the accident without an issue and had been present at the hospital, as frustrating as that conversation had been. But I wondered whether he might have needed a day to recover from the emotionally charged event. He had acted so oddly right after the accident, and I would have been just fine without his intervention. Also, I still had questions he hadn’t seemed willing to answer, but they would keep.

Angela nodded. “Yep, and kept to himself as usual.”

Thankfully, I hadn’t missed too much. Angela wasn’t even in Spanish, but she had stopped by and asked Mrs Goff for my assignments. I really appreciated her looking out for me and wondered what I might do to return the favour.

After chatting for a bit longer, Angela looked at her watch.

“Oh, I’ve got to get going. My mom will need the van. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

I smiled. “That’s the plan.”

“Great.” Her expression brightened as she stood. “Call me if you have questions about anything. I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m really glad you’re here in Forks.”

She paused by the door. “I know it might seem weird for me to say, but you seem like a kindred spirit, Hermione. I know that sounds silly. It’s not like I’m Anne and you’re Diana or anything…”

Her voice trailed off, but I knew what she was talking about. Since I hadn’t had many close female friends, it was different for me, too, but I could see Angela and I becoming close, at least as close as I could be, given there was no way for me to be completely honest with her about who I was and why I was here. There was also the fact that I wouldn’t be here that long, but that was an issue for the future.

“Thanks for looking out for me, Angela. I’m glad we’re friends.”

By the time my uncle came home, I had most of my homework done and the semblance of a plan worked out.

“So, Uncle Charlie, I kind of need to get a few things.”

He froze like a deer in the headlights; I realised he assumed I might be asking him to take me shopping.

“I was thinking _I_ might drive over to Port Angeles this weekend or next, take a look around, check out the shops.”

His relief was palpable, and I almost chuckled at his reaction.

“You sure you’re up for that?”

I nodded. “As long as the roads are clear, I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, yesterday’s weather was unexpected. How’s the head?”

“Just fine, although you were right, I needed the extra rest.”

He smiled knowingly, before settling down to watch some television.

“Are you planning to go by yourself?” He called as I turned to walk upstairs to finish my work.

“That’s the plan, but maybe I’ll see if Angela wants to go.”

I would definitely not be asking Angela to go with me, at least not this time, but if it made Uncle Charlie feel more comfortable that it was a possibility, I’d throw it out there now and beg off later.

o0o

School for the next couple days was just as annoying as I thought it might be. Between Tyler’s constant attempts to apologise and both Mike and Eric following me around, as if I was made of glass, I had lost any headway I had made on blending in. Even worse, because of Mike’s renewed attention, Jessica wasn’t happy with me, and now Lauren, another girl who sat at our lunch table, didn’t seem thrilled with me either. The only saving grace was Angela’s steady presence.

As I looked around the table, I wondered whether my company had supplanted anyone as her close friend, or if she hadn’t had as strong a relationship with the others. Maybe that explained why we were such easy friends. Whereas the other girls at the table seemed to be interested in gossip and boys, Angela, much like me, was more focused on schoolwork. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that neither of us were interested in the opposite sex. I had seen Angela glance over at Ben Cheney one too many times to think that. I made a mental note to ask her about it sometime.

As for me, it wasn't a matter of interest, boys simply weren’t what I was here for, which meant it was easy to put them out of my mind. But there was one who I still couldn’t make sense of. After our terse conversation in the hospital, it seemed that my lab partner had regressed to not speaking to me again, unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then, it was with clenched fists while holding his breath.

I shrugged it off, as I had done before. I hoped if there was something he needed to work through, he had the chance to do it. I briefly thought back to our conversation in the hospital and wondered if he might be concerned that I would press him on what I saw was an obvious inconsistency in our recollections of the morning of the accident. Was he trying to avoid me? It wasn’t exactly possible to do that while sitting two feet apart, but I would respect his obvious desire for space. In any event, Edward’s problems were his own, not mine. I wasn’t responsible for his moods, and other than the fifty minutes we were thrown together in Biology, it was rather easy to ignore him altogether. Not that I wasn’t still curious, but I had other things to hold my attention.

o0o

Due to heavy rain, it was another week before I could make the trip towards Sequim. By that point, I had received a second letter from Ginny, and in this one she made clear that she was expecting a response. “You can’t just head off to America and disappear! You have people who love you and miss you!”

I penned a response, apologising for the delay and giving her more details about life in Forks than I had in my first letter, as I knew she might send me a long distance hex, if she only got those few lines that I had originally written. I appreciated Ginny’s effort to stay in touch given the distance and send me tidbits of news on everyone’s life. She had even dutifully reported that Luna had been by to ask if she might want to go fishing for plimpies, and wondered if I had packed enough garlic with me. I chuckled. Luna lived in a world of her own and saw things from a completely unique perspective. It was a gift that both humoured and infuriated me in equal parts, but I was glad she had maintained her innocence through everything.

I also sent another note to Harry. Halloween was in a few days, and I wanted him to know I was thinking about him. He always tended to be a bit subdued near the anniversary of his parents’ deaths, and given the list of those beyond the veil was even longer this year, it might be a hard one.

It was on Halloween that we had formed the seeds of our friendship, and every year since then we had spent the day together, the good ones and the not so good ones. I wondered if he was thinking about the coming day, if he was dreading it, or if he was using his newfound busyness to avoid thinking about it. Even if it wasn’t on his mind, it was on mine because regardless of how he might try to ignore it, as I knew all too well, in the quiet times, thoughts rushed in to fill the space. So I gave him a not-so-subtle nudge, asking about Andromeda and Teddy, and suggesting that might be a good place for him to spend the day.

When Saturday came, I had a handful of letters and a ball of nervous energy in my stomach. Charlie had grilled me on the route the day before. He had been disappointed to hear that I was making the trip on my own, but didn’t seem too worried about the drive, so I wasn’t surprised that he had already headed out on his own excursion before I was out of bed.

By now, I was driving around town and to school enough that I was comfortable with the truck, but this was the longest trip I had taken in it. However, as I hit the 101, I found it handled with ease. I turned on the radio to find something to listen to, as I passed the miles through the trees.

Soon enough, I reached Port Angeles. I checked the map. Sequim was just a bit further ahead, and in no time, I found myself sitting in the parking lot of the Sequim Botanical Company, ready to head inside and see if my inference had been correct. I really hoped it was.

As I stepped inside, I knew I had been right. The walls were lined with shelves filled with jars and jars of ingredients. It looked just like an apothecary, except without the beetle eyes and runespoor eggs, given the shop catered to health-minded Muggles. I looked around, wondering how I could broach the issue without arousing suspicion. There were a few customers milling about and a woman who looked to be about my mother’s age behind the counter helping a customer. Her clothing appeared to be completely Muggle, unlike the shopkeeps in Diagon Alley, most of whom couldn’t pass for a Muggle, if they had to.

American Wizarding society tended to be hidden in plain sight, with dual purpose spaces, mostly. It was just the way it was over here. With so few Wizarding areas outside of major cities, unlike in Europe, most magical people found a way to adapt by carving out lives in and around the growing Muggle population.

I took a good look at the clerk. She had long grey hair piled on top of her head and secured with what looked like a chopstick, although I suspected it might be her wand. If it was, it was an interesting way to keep it close at hand, but out of sight.

I looked around for a few minutes, reading the names of the orderly jars that lined the shelves. Echinacea. Feverfew. Lady’s Mantle. I knew many, but not all the names, due to my potion work in school. There was even an entire wall of mushrooms. They all appeared to be standard medicinal herbs and plants, but I suspected they might carry other items that couldn’t be displayed so openly.

Once the register was clear, I walked over.

“Excuse me, I was wondering if you might have any Shrivelfig?”

It was a common enough potion ingredient, and unlike baneberry or nettle, grew exclusively on a magical plant. If she was paying attention, she should understand what I was saying, that I was identifying myself as someone who knew potions.

“I’m sorry. What?” she blinked. Her expression was one of puzzlement, not recognition.

I knew some places used substitutions for certain ingredients, based on availability. I quickly thought through other options that wouldn’t sound too odd.

“Might you have any Murtlap?”

Unlike figs, there were no Muggle or local versions of Murtlap. The ingredient was rare enough on its own, but an essential element for brewing Doxycide.

Her eyes narrowed, but her expression still gave nothing away.

“I’m looking for a route to Seattle,” I said, hoping she would put two and two together.

She inclined her head towards the road outside, knowing that if you followed it for several hours, it would take you there, eventually.

“I was hoping for something a little _faster_ , even if I got a little dirty in the process?”

If she was a witch, my intent would be clear, and if not, hopefully she’d think me only slightly addled.

“Herman.” She called into the back.

A short, balding man walked out from the back of the store.

“We’ve got a guest who needs to use the _restroom_. Do you mind watching the front so I can take her back?”

He looked at me and nodded, and I tried to smile. This all seemed very odd, but they probably didn’t get random people showing up asking to use their Floo. If the tables were turned, I would be suspicious, too.

“Follow me.” 

We slipped into what appeared to be a large room for processing and storing their ingredients. There were bouquets of lavender hanging and what appeared to be drying nettles, but none of the familiar ingredients I had been hoping for. I tried to hide my disappointment.

“You’re not from around here.”

“I’m not.”

She frowned, as if sizing me up. “We don’t get many customers asking for things like that.”

It was a neutral answer, one that neither confirmed nor denied that she was familiar with what I had asked for.

“I- I’m new to the area. I haven’t been to Seattle before, but when I came across your shop, I thought you might be able to help.”

She didn’t answer directly. Both of us were dancing around the issue, sizing up the other, and yet, I didn’t want to assume anything. My words should have been clear enough.

“You’re young. How’d you get here on your own?”

It was a legitimate question. In a given geographic area, magical folk knew each other. Normally, I would have had parents or friends to make the proper introduction.

“I’m visiting my uncle. He’s not...” My voice trailed off. I couldn’t say he wasn’t a wizard.

“Ahh… he doesn’t know everything that he could.”

“Yes.” I exhaled in relief, finding some confirmation in her words.

“You’re heading to the Ballard?”

I nodded. The Ballard was the building that housed most of the Seattle Wizarding enclave’s businesses. It remained to be seen whether she would help me, but at least I knew I had guessed correctly.

“What did you say your name was?” Her eyes narrowed once more, as if my name might mean something to her.

She hadn’t asked my name, nor had I yet given it. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. She made no attempt to remove her wand, if indeed that was what was holding up her bun and I had mine close at hand. Nor did I have any interest in engaging in a duel in the back room of this business. Nor did she, I suspected. She was only trying to size me up and make sense of the girl who had shown up in her shop out of the blue. Still, it made sense to be careful.

“Jean,” I said brightly, falling back on my middle name to preserve some semblance of anonymity.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jean. I’m Maggie and that’s my husband, Herman. You’ll have to excuse me. We don’t get a lot of strangers around here.”

“I’m sorry to have concerned you. I would make it there myself, but it’s quite a drive, and my truck is a little old.”

She walked towards a coffee maker in the corner and poured a cup and offering it to me, but when I declined she shrugged and kept it for herself.

“And how did you come across us?”

I smiled. “The Yellow Pages? Your website said you were an apothecary, and it reminded me of home.”

“You don’t really need those things, do you? We have some potion ingredients on hand.”

I shook my head. “No, I just need to get to the Ballard, but I also needed a way to ask you discretely.”

“You did a good job. The Shrivelfig threw me for a minute. I’ve never had a stranger come in asking for that. British, I take it? Hogwarts?”

I nodded, glad that she didn’t ask when I had finished, given I hadn’t.

“Herman went to Ilvermorny. I was homeschooled.” 

“Are there a lot of witches and wizards in this area? Port Angeles, maybe?”

Maggie snorted. “That load of yahoos?” She shook her head. “There aren’t many of us out here on the Peninsula, a few here and there, but most people live closer to Seattle or down towards Tacoma or Olympia. We live out here because this is where we find many of our supplies. Well, that and the yahoos in Port Angeles do help drive business our way.”

That was interesting to think about, the symbiotic relationship between Muggle and magical businesses, even unwittingly. There were more questions I wanted to ask, but I suspected Maggie would prefer to get back to work than stand around chatting to satisfy my curiosity.

“Say, if you’ll be coming back this way, would you mind stopping in the bookstore and picking up a package for me? You’d be surprised how seldomly we make it to Seattle, even with the direct connection. The shop keeps us plenty busy, and the plants do the rest of the time.”

“Of course. I’d be happy to. I don’t expect to be there too long, just long enough to send some letters and look around.”

And I couldn’t complain about having an excuse to make my way to a bookstore.

“Oh, well, you can always mail letters from here. We do that for those that don’t have a bird of their own, although most everyone does at this point. In any event, let me show you to our fireplace.”

She led me into a different room. It was a small office, but it had a grate and a pot of what I suspected was Floo Powder sat to one side on the mantle.

“We close at five today, so you had better be back by then, if you want to come through this way,” she cautioned.

I understood, not wanting to keep them waiting, particularly when this act of kindness was saving me from countless hours in the truck, let alone the gas I would use getting there. This was definitely an easier way to go.

“Thank you for your assistance. I really appreciate it.” I moved towards the grate and grabbed a handful of powder, before waiting for her to give me the cue.

“Don’t mention it. Just head to the Splintered Wand. It’s on the first floor, nearest to the entrance.”

What an odd name. I released the powder in my hand and called out, “Splintered Wand,” before green flames rose up and transported me the rest of the way to Seattle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love and comments! I'm glad so many of you are enjoying it so far.


	6. A Shift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos, comments and feedback. All are welcomed!

American Halloween was quite an affair. School was amusing, to say the least. I walked inside to find various people dressed in costume.

To me, however, it was a day when I missed home and I missed my friends. There was no Death Day party or special feast. For once, I felt far from those I loved, particularly knowing the Harry was having a sombre day as well.

At breakfast, Uncle Charlie seemed upbeat enough, if not concerned about what trouble the evening might bring. I chuckled inside, wondering how much trouble could there actually be in Forks. The other kids at school seemed fairly respectful; it seemed trouble was relative. Another part of life in a small town, I guessed. When everyone knew everyone else’s business, and with few options, you were limited in what you could do to act out.

Uncle Charlie picked up on my mood but wisely ignored it, asking if I was going to a party or if I’d be handing out candy for the trick-or-treaters. My preference was neither, but it seemed that my classmates had a different idea.

“Come on, Hermione. It will be so much fun.” Eric pleaded with me as we walked between classes. Mike was having a party to celebrate and there was talk of the beach trip to the Quileute reservation finally happening the next day, since it looked like the weather would be good.

I was interested in the latter, but not the former. I had got a glimpse of the ocean when flying in, but this would be my first chance to stand at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Plus, I hadn’t made it to the reservation yet and wanted to see it for myself. Indigenous belief systems and origin stories were fascinating. I hoped to learn about their work with native plants and see what aspects I might recognise from my own time in Herbology. Neville would have a field day with an entire continent of new plants. And of course, Native American traditions served as the underpinning of a large part of American magical traditions, so there was much for me to learn.

As the day dragged on, I felt the weight of my separation even more. Although I hadn’t even been at Hogwarts last year, so much of what I saw reminded me of the world I’d left behind, albeit an odd caricature of it. People laughed as they sported pointy hats and striped stockings — their idea of a “witch” while a real one walked among them, and they had no idea. Meanwhile, someone’s pink wig, that appeared to be part of their ode to the 80s costume, made my heart hurt, thinking of Tonks and baby Teddy who would never get to meet his amazing mum.

In my head, I knew being homesick was a perfectly natural thing, but that didn’t make the ache go away. It was funny that here I was again, feeling the same thing that I had when I was twelve; but instead of getting trapped in the Girls’ bathroom by a Mountain Troll, all that waited for me at the end of the day were a pair of comfy pjs and a pint of ice cream, so I could appropriately drown my sorrows in chocolate.

As I took my seat at the lunch table, Angela leaned towards me.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Apparently I wasn’t so good at hiding my discontent. All around us, the lunchroom was filled with noise and talk of the weekend’s plans, and yet I felt strangely removed.

I nodded, again thankful for the olive branch. “Can we walk?”

Her face lit up, perhaps happy to have an excuse to connect more closely.

It was grey today, but not rainy, so we headed outdoors and made our way to the empty track.

Angela let me plod along without speaking. That was something else I liked about her. She wasn’t one to press; she knew I’d begin on my own time.

“Today’s a bit of a tricky day for me.”

I sighed, gathering my thoughts. What did I want to share? How much could I share? I hadn’t really had the opportunity to be friends with Muggles since I left for Hogwarts, and even before then, my primary school relationships had been strained at best. But here I was in a place where my only chance at having friends was with people with whom I couldn’t fully share myself. Maybe that was part of why I was missing home today — even though it was interesting to learn new things in a different place, there would always be a barrier between who I could be around these people and who I actually was.

I was still bound by the Statute of Secrecy, and even without that, the hardships I had experienced weren’t something I would share lightly. Nevertheless, connection was so important. It was one of the most important parts of one’s ability to recover from a trauma I had read. And even if I couldn’t be directly connected with my friends in England, there were people here who cared about me and seemed to want to get to know me.

“To be honest,” I continued, “it’s not even really my tricky day, but I think I’m missing home more than usual.”

Angela gave me a smile and reached out and took my arm.

“Sometimes it helps to talk about the things that are on our minds. Tell me about it… if you want.”

I sighed before unburdening my soul as best I could.

“I have two best friends at home. Well, one is perhaps a little better than the other, but that’s only because he’s probably more like a brother to me, where the other one has his own brothers.”

“Two guys?” Angela asked.

“I know. It sounds weird, but we’ve been friends since we were eleven and twelve, long before anything else could get in the way.”

“And you never-”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, actually, I did, but that’s a story for another time. It wasn’t the best idea. Anyway, Harry — that’s the one who is like my brother, he’s an orphan. His parents died when he was a baby-”

“Oh! How sad!”

I nodded. “The thing is, they died on October 31, so it’s kind of a hard day for him, and…”

“You feel bad for being here and not being there for him.” Angela said, intuiting the rest of my thought.

“Exactly.”

“I’m sorry, Hermione. That must be hard. Can you call him and talk?”

If only it were so easy. I wished Harry had a phone number where I could reach him or that we still had Sirius’s two-way mirror, or that my uncle’s fireplace was connected to the Floo Network, but none of those things were true. I could only send an occasional owl across the sea and hope for a reply, and that was a bit depressing. None of that I could explain to Angela, however.

“Well, with the time change and all, it makes it kind of hard. I sent him a letter, but he’s not really one to write back.”

Angela nodded. “Boys.”

“Yeah, but the thing is, I can’t even be mad at him. He’s had to look out for everyone else for so long. He’s had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders for as long as I can remember.”

That was as close to the truth as I could get, but it seemed to be enough for her. She didn’t push for me to explain any more that I had told her.

She stopped walking and turned to face me. “You said his name is Harry?”

“Yes.”

“Huh…” She seemed surprised. “You don’t meet many of those around here.”

“I suppose not.”

“Well, my guess is that Harry already knows that you’re thinking about him today, even though you’re not right there. But my grandmother would say that we should offer Harry a blessing on such an important day. Well, actually, she would probably say we need five blessings, but since we’ve got class in a few minutes, today, one will have to do. What do you think, Hermione? Would you be okay with that?”

I nodded, my throat thick with emotion.

“Zhù tā píng píng ān ān.”

I looked at her curiously.

“It’s Mandarin. I wished for peace and safety for him.”

She couldn’t know that those were exactly the words that I needed to hear. I reached over and hugged her tightly. Peace was what we all needed, especially Harry.

“Thank you, Angela. Really, thank you.”

She hugged me back, and as she did, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders. The connection was what I needed, too.

“Anytime, Hermione.”

As the bell rang, we headed into Biology. I still felt the weight of being away from home, but Angela was right, Harry knew I would be thinking of him today, and that, in itself, was some comfort.

As we got to class, I slipped behind Edward to get to my seat, yet as I did so, he scooted his chair in. That was different. He had all but ignored me since the incident in the parking lot.

I sat, and he turned to face me with a funny half-smile on his face.

“Hello, Hermione.”

His voice was almost like music and today, his eyes were the colour of butterscotch. It was the first time I’d got a good look at him in a while, and I could see the sculpted line of his jaw. He really was quite handsome.

But then I remembered he had ignored me for nearly a month and so I frowned, taken aback by this unexpected interaction.

“What? To what do I owe this honour? You’re talking to me again?”

“Not really,” he replied with an impish grin.

I wasn’t up for riddles today or for boys who couldn’t make up their minds.

“Well, let me know when you figure it out. I’ll just be over here getting ready for class.”

I made a show of taking out my notebook and pen and arranging them on my desk and then looked straightforward, willing the bell to ring so Mr Banner would begin teaching.

Edward took advantage of the delay to speak again, his voice lower. I inclined my head towards him so I could catch what he was saying without giving him my full attention.

“Sorry, I know I’m being rude, but it’s better this way. I wouldn’t be a good friend for you.” The smile had left his face.

I turned to face forward again. “That makes absolutely no sense, but I’m pretty sure you know that. And besides, I’ve been around long enough that I’m perfectly capable of picking my own friends.” 

My tone seemed to surprise him. Perhaps he wasn’t used to people talking to him like that; although I never really saw him interacting with anyone outside of his siblings. It was almost as if everyone else steered clear of him, unless necessary. I, however, did not have that same programming.

Fortunately, the bell rang and class was called to order, so I directed my focus to Mr Banner.

After class, Mike Newton was quick to appear at my table and offer to walk me to the gym. I guess my absence at lunch had been noted.

“So, you’re coming to the party tonight?” He looked so hopeful.

I shook my head, and his face fell. “I appreciate you inviting me, Mike, but I’m really not up for it. However, I am planning to go to the beach tomorrow, if the weather is good.”

His face brightened. “Yeah, sure. It’s supposed to be.”

“Great,” I said, walking off towards the locker room. “I’ll be there in the morning, then.”

o0o

No sooner had I arrived home and got my joggers on, than I heard the phone ringing downstairs.

It was probably Jessica, as she had taken to calling me in the afternoons, ostensibly to chat about the day. However, I knew it was a ruse. She was calling to pump me for information on Mike. It was clear to me that she liked him, but she kept skirting around the question of whether he might like me, instead asking me if he had mentioned her in the classes we shared. She probably wanted to know if I was going to tonight’s party.

To me, she was rather transparent, but I would humour her to a point. She wasn’t someone I particularly liked, but she seemed to be a necessary part of the social circle in the Junior class. While I didn’t care about such things as in-crowds, in a small school, some bridges would be a problem to burn, especially this early in my stay.

I took my time getting to the phone, on the hope that it would stop ringing before I picked up.

No such luck.

“Hello?” I answered, my voice dripping with boredom.

“Hermione?”

I was wrong. It wasn’t Jessica.

“Harry?”

I glanced at the clock. It was almost four o’clock, which meant it was nearly midnight over there.

“Hey there,” he said, the relief evident in his voice.

“What are you doing? It’s so late there.”

“I couldn’t let the day go by without talking to you at all. It just didn’t feel right.”

My heart was in equal parts happy to hear from him and sad for him, as it had been all day.

“You got my letter.”

“Of course.”

I could hear his grin through the phone, the tacit acknowledgement that while he was happy to receive it, I shouldn’t wait for one in return.

“Where are you?”

“Phone box near Grimmauld.”

“Oh, my goodness. You should be sleeping.”

“Yeah, well… As I said, I needed to hear your voice.”

I felt tears forming in my eyes. It meant everything to hear from him, especially today.

“I miss you, Harry.”

“Come on now,” he chided. “You haven’t been gone that long. And I’m sure there’s loads that you’re learning, right? Tell me something interesting. I’ve missed your enrichment.”

That made me laugh, a watery sort of chuckle. Here I was, the one falling apart, when Harry was the one who should need my comfort.

“So, I’m going to the beach tomorrow.”

“The beach? I thought it was cold.”

“It is, but not all the time. Forks is in a temperate rain forest, you know. Between the proximity to the coast and all the vegetation, it moderates the temperature.”

I heard Harry snicker. “There you are, Hermione. I was getting worried.”

It was so easy for me to slip into my default mode of facts and figures. I sighed.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I am. Just, today, it was kind of hard to not be there with you.”

“I get it. I felt the same way, but then again, I was stuck in meetings most of the day, so I didn’t exactly have time to dwell on it.”

“It seems so weird to think you’re off at work, and doing important things, yet here I am, still a schoolgirl. We should be doing the same thing.”

“Nah, you’re where you need to be right now, and you know it,” he reassured me. “You’re not done filling your head with things to learn, and you would probably be heading back to Hogwarts, if you were here, so you could finish your N.E.W.T.s.”

He wasn’t wrong, and I did still plan to finish my N.E.W.T.s when I returned.

“What’s going on there? How’s everyone? How’s Auror life?”

Before he could respond, I heard another voice on the line.

_Please deposit £10 for five more minutes._

“Oh shit. Already? Ugh.”

“What? You aren’t using a phone card? Harry!”

I heard him scrambling and then the clink of a handful of coins.

“Okay. Better talk fast.” He regrouped. “Everyone is good. Ron seems to be either at the shop or at Bill’s these days, which is an improvement, whether I care for Lavender or not. Speaking of the shop, it sounds like Angelina has been by a few times, which is good for both her and George. We even got him on a broom last weekend.”

I smiled. Of everyone who loved Fred, I worried about George the most. I couldn’t imagine losing a twin.

“And work? What’s up at the Ministry?”

“The usual. A report comes in and they send someone to check it out. We’ve brought in a few former Snatchers here and there, but there’s still more to be done.”

“And Ginny?” I asked. I knew how she was, at least what she had said, but I wanted to hear it from Harry, wondering if they were in an on-again or off-again phase.

“Well, she’s good. Getting ready to head back to school and all. I saw both her and Luna last weekend.”

I could hear him running his hand through his hair, trying to avoid the direct question I’d asked. Knowing our time was short, I decided to let him off the hook.

“And what about Neville?”

“As far as I know, he’s still up at school cleaning up the greenhouses, helping Professor Sprout with everything.”

“And you?”

He had talked about everyone else. He had listened to me fall apart. It was so quintessentially Harry to focus on everyone but himself. But, on this point, he knew I would press for an answer, an honest answer.

He took a deep breath.

“I’m okay.” He answered reflexively, but stopped, hearing my sharp intake of breath.

“No, really, I’m okay as I can be. I miss them, you know. Today, especially. But, this year, it seems different, having seen them in the forest. You know, it feels more real this year.”

“I’m sure it does, Harry. I’m sure it does.”

The line was quiet for a moment, both of us sitting with that.

“But, I feel better having talked to you. It just felt right.”

“I’m so glad to hear your voice.” The ache in my heart returned. “Don’t be a stranger.”

He chuckled. “Well, let’s not set any expectations, but given I’ve figured it out, I’m sure I’ll call again sometime.”

“You’d better. Otherwise, I’ll have a hex with your name on it when I see you.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it. Hey, Hermione?”

“Yeah?”

“Listen, I know it’s easy for you to get focused on your work, but you need to remember to live a little. Enjoy yourself. Have some fun.”

“I could say the same to you, you know.”

“But that’s just it. I was at Happy Hour at the Leaky last night, and I played Quidditch last weekend. I’m finding ways to do things I like to do, but I worry that it’s too easy for you to keep your nose in a book when there’s no one there to remind you to put it down.”

“There’s nothing wrong with reading,” I retorted.

“Of course, there’s not. Clearly, I wouldn’t even be here, if you didn’t have such a love of books, but there’s an entire world out there just waiting for you, too. Promise me you’ll take part in it from time to time.”

_Please deposit £10 for five more minutes._

“Ugh… I’m out of coins.”

“That’s okay. I’m glad we got to talk. And yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“No... Promise me.”

It seemed important to him, so I acquiesced.

“Okay, I promise.” 

“Good, good. Okay. Take care of your-”

The line went dead. Our time had run out, but we had said everything that needed to be said. And he was right, I did feel better after talking to him.

I decided to take his words to heart. There was a party tonight, perhaps I would put in an appearance after all.

Uncle Charlie seemed to be thrilled to find me dressed up when he came home. I went with the obvious choice, black jeans and a black jumper paired with a pointy hat I had transfigured. Why reinvent the wheel?

“Going somewhere?”

“Well, it is Friday night, and as it happens, Mike Newton is throwing a party.”

He smiled. “As long as you know the rules.”

I said them with him in turn. “No smoking, no drinking, no drugs.”

“But-” he held up his finger. “If you happen to partake of something you shouldn’t, call me and I will come get you. Okay? Safety first.”

“Got it. Thanks, Uncle Charlie. You don’t need to worry.”

“Home by 11?”

I nodded. “Maybe even before that.”

“No need to rush.”

He was probably thrilled that I was finally going out, given I had stayed in since arriving. He probably thought it was because I was fitting in and finding my way. While that was true, it also was what Harry had said. He was right. I would be perfectly fine curling up with a book, but maybe it was time for me to live a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From what I could tell, making an international call from a BT payphone was a ridiculously expensive venture without a phone card. 😬


End file.
